Wondering what Rand Paul thinks of this… Ron Paul claims, “Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston.” From his piece on a libertarian site: “Forced lockdown of a city. Militarized police riding tanks in the streets. Door-to-door armed searches without warrant. Families thrown out of their homes at gunpoint to be searched without probable cause. Businesses forced to close. Transport shut down. These were not the scenes from a military coup in a far off banana republic, but rather the scenes just over a week ago in Boston as the United States got a taste of martial law. The ostensible reason for the military-style takeover of parts of Boston was that the accused perpetrator of a horrific crime was on the loose. The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city. This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.”
KENTUCKY:National Journal: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has set an ambitious goal for his reelection campaign: to build the most sophisticated Republican digital and data operation to date. The Kentucky Republican, known more as tactician than technologist, is making a major investment in technology infrastructure in hopes that a treasure trove of real-time data about the electorate will help guide him to a sixth term.”
MASSACHUSETTS:AP table sets today’s Senate special election. Polls open at 7:00 am ET and close at 8:00 pm ET. A light turnout is expected. Rep. Ed Markey’s the favorite on the Democratic side; Gabriel Gomez is the favorite for Republicans.
In fact, reports the Boston Globe: “Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin today predicted an overall lower turnout for Tuesday’s special US Senate primary election than in the same contest in 2009. Galvin said he expected about 550,000 Democratic ballots would be cast Tuesday in the two-person contest, down from the 669,000 in the 2009 US Senate special primary election. On the Republican side, he said he predicts about 200,000 people will cast primary ballots in the three-person race, up from 165,000 in 2009.”
MICHIGAN: “U.S. Rep. Gary Peters is expected to announce his intention to run for Michigan’s soon-to-be-open U.S. Senate seat on Wednesday in Rochester Hills,” the Detroit Free Press reports. “A Democratic source told the Free Press on Monday that Peters, who had been widely expected to run, would announce his intentions and visit several other cities around the state — including Flint, Lansing and Grand Rapids — this week.”
SOUTH CAROLINA:The State: “Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch portrayed her Republican rival Mark Sanford as a dishonest job-killer who voted against the dredging of the Charleston port during a debate Monday, while Sanford characterized her as a wishy-washy union-backer who relies on special interest money from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other national Democrats.”
And how about this exchange when Colbert Busch brought up his extramarital affair (Sanford acted like he couldn’t hear what she said):
COLBERT BUSCH: “When we talk about fiscal spending and we talk about protecting the taxpayers, it doesn’t mean you take that money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose.”
MODERATOR: “She went there, Gov. Sanford.”
SANFORD: “I couldn’t hear what she said. Repeat it, I didn’t hear it.”
COLBERT BUSCH: “Answer the question.”
SANFORD: “What was the question?”
He went on to answer the original question on spending and not the charge.
Politico: “Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch took the fight to embattled Republican Mark Sanford in a raucous debate here Monday night, at one point tagging the former governor as a hypocrite for preaching lower spending when he used taxpayer dollars to fly to Argentina to visit his mistress.”
An affair site took out two billboards in South Carolina. Over a photo of Sanford, the billboards read, “Next time…” use their site “to find your ‘running mate.’”
The woman who replaced Mark Sanford as governor, Nikki Haley (R), will participate in a fundraiser in Charleston for him Wednesday, NBC’s Ali Weinberg reports. “Nikki believes it is critical that South Carolina speak with as much unity as possible on key federal issues facing our state, such as labor union powers, Obamacare, and deficit spending, and Mark Sanford is clearly the candidate who will stand with our Congressional delegation in fighting Washington's overreach,” Haley adviser Tim Pearson said.
But even the man hosting the fundraiser for Sanford doesn’t know if he can win. Auto dealer Tommy Baker, who with his wife is hosting Wednesday’s fundraiser, declined to handicap Sanford’s chances given his campaign’s recent speed bumps: “I don’t know that. I wish him the best and I think they’re two great candidates,” he said. “If I could answer that I wouldn’t have to be in business today.”
VIRGINIA: The Washington Post: “FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor’s daughter, according to four people familiar with the questioning.”
“The FBI has begun examining the relationship between Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen and the chief executive of a nutritional supplements manufacturer that is the subject of a federal investigation, two people with knowledge of the review said Monday,” AP writes, adding, “FBI agents have asked questions about gifts the McDonnells have received from company CEO Jonnie Williams and whether the Republican governor or his administration aided the company in return.”