Rand Paul Says Mitch McConnell is the Man

“I’ll be for Senator McConnell,” Paul said in an interview with WaPo.

“People really appreciate how he was able to win his election on his own and keep the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] money going to those who needed it,” Rand said.

It gets worse.

It appears Rand is going full establishment and is talking bipartisan legislation.

“You know, I think the gridlock is going to end,” Paul said. “I don’t know the exact answer to how these people will be and I was up until 1 a.m. doing media hits, so I haven’t spoken with all of them. But Sen. McConnell knows how to make the Senate work and I think he’ll make us a bigger party, a better party, by allowing Democrats to have amendments and crafting bipartisan legislation.”

Rand Paul Proud to Be a Member of Team Mitch

Great event in Louisville this morning to kick off the day right. All over Kentucky today with Team Mitch. pic.twitter.com/JaKs6a0m7a
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) November 3, 2014

Doesn't look very libertarian to me.

90 Pounds of Cocaine Found on Cargo Ship Owned by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Father-in-Law

Just days before the election The Nation features this story:

Before the Ping May, a rusty cargo vessel, could disembark from the port of Santa Marta en route to the Netherlands in late August, Colombian inspectors boarded the boat and made a discovery. Hidden in the ship’s chain locker, amidst its load of coal bound for Europe, were approximately 40 kilograms, or about 90 pounds, of cocaine. A Colombian Coast Guard official told The Nation that there is an ongoing investigation.

The seizure of the narcotics shipment in the Caribbean port occurred far away from Kentucky, the state in which Senator Mitch McConnell is now facing a career-defining election. But the Republican Senate minority leader has the closest of ties to the owner of the Ping May, the vessel containing the illicit materials: the Foremost Maritime Corporation, a firm founded and owned by McConnell’s in-laws, the Chao family.

Though Foremost has played a pivotal role in McConnell’s life, bestowing the senator with most of his personal wealth and generating thousands in donations to his campaign committees, the drug bust went unnoticed in Kentucky, where every bit of McConnell-related news has generated fodder for the campaign trail. That’s because, like many international shipping companies, Chao’s firm is shrouded from public view, concealing its identity and limiting its legal liability through an array of tax shelters and foreign registrations. Registered through a limited liability company in the Marshall Islands, the Ping May flies the Liberian flag.

McConnell’s ties to the Chaos go back to the late 1980s, when James Chao began donating to the senator. In 1993, McConnell married James’s daughter, Elaine Chao, a Republican activist and then-former Reagan administration official who would later serve as Secretary ofLabor in the George W. Bush cabinet. James Chao emigrated to the United States from Taiwan, and founded the Foremost Maritime Corporation upon settling in New York. The company has grown significantly over the years, from acting as maritime agent during the Vietnam War to controlling a fleet of approximately 16 dry bulk cargo ships in operation today.

UNREAL McConnell Paid Jesse Benton More Than $500K

WaPo is out with a story on some amazing disclosures on the payments made by Mitch McConnell to Rand Paul's nephew (through marriage), Jesse Benton, which  included payments to Benton after he resigned from the McConnell campaign. Here's Sean Sullivan at WaPo:

When Jesse Benton signed up to manage the reelection campaign of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), it was seen as a win-win. Good for McConnell, who needed help broadening his appeal in the tea party. Good for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who needed a boost in the establishment.

Turns out it was good for Benton, too. At least, financially speaking.

A review of campaign finance records shows Benton made more than $500,000 working for McConnell from the beginning of 2013 through the end of last month. The former top Ron Paul and Rand Paul strategist made most of his money from McConnell's campaign. The rest came from work he did for McConnell's leadership PAC.

McConnell's campaign paid Benton's consulting firm more than $402,000 during the last 21 months for strategy consulting and research, records show. That's substantially more than a typical Senate campaign manager takes home in salary in a comparable period.

As liberal blogger Joe Sonka, who dug into the numbers earlier this week, pointed out, McConnell's campaign paid Benton's firm days after he resigned this summer. Benton, as Sonka noted, has also been paid by the Kentucky Republican Party.

To put Benton's compensation into further perspective:

-- It's more than double McConnell's annual $193,400 Senate salary.

-- It's more than double what President Obama campaign manager Jim Messina made in 2012.

-- It's more than Obama's annual $400,000 salary...

McConnell started the 2014 election cycle facing the prospect of a tough primary. The tea party was eager to unseat him. So he tapped Benton's deep ties to the tea party movement to help navigate the rough waters.

It worked out. Rand Paul -- eyeing a 2016 White House bid and on the lookout for new allies -- endorsed McConnell.

Very Strange: Do Establishment Democrats Want Mitch McConnell to Retain His Senate Seat?

Did Mitch get to somebody?

Despite some polls showing Alison Lundergan Grimes ahead in the polls against Kenticky incumbent Mitch McConnell, the national party has stopped funding for ads in the state. AP reports:

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has stopped running TV ads in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race, a severe blow to Alison Lundergan Grimes in her challenge to Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

In a statement issued three weeks before the Nov. 4 election and a day after the candidates' sole debate, the committee said Tuesday that it had spent more than $2 million in Kentucky and continued to fund get-out-the-vote operations. However, the committee made no commitment to go back on the air in support of Grimes, who has been pummeled by tens of millions of dollars in attack ads by McConnell and his allies.

The committee's decision in Kentucky was in strong contrast to its activities in other states with pivotal Senate races. Democrats continued to spend freely in Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina and several other states as they tried to blunt a Republican drive to gain a Senate majority in midterm elections.

(ht Travis Holte)