Thread: Rand Paul’s Odd Choice, meddling in North Carolina

1 HR AGO OPINION

Rand Paul’s Odd Choice

The senator's meddling in North Carolina seems unnecessary

By Allysia Finley

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.)
Getty Images

North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis, along with GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, has led nothing short of a Copernican revolution in government reform this past year. Strange then that Rand Paul should be allying with liberal groups and rallying tea party groups against Mr. Tillis in Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary.

Few Republican primaries are as significant and hotly contested as North Carolina’s. A new Public Policy Polling survey shows Mr. Tillis leading obstetrician Greg Brannon by 12 points and Baptist pastor Mark Harris by 25. But here’s the rub: Mr. Tillis is sitting right on the 40% cusp necessary to avoid a runoff, and as the poll notes the momentum is “on the anti-establishment candidates’ side.” A week ago Mr. Tillis was leading the doctor by 26 points and preacher by 35.

However, Mr. Paul and his second fiddle, Utah Senator Mike Lee, have been urging local tea party groups to back Mr. Brannon.

And Mike Huckabee—who, recall, was Todd Akin’s biggest supporter—has anointed Mr. Harris as the choice for Christian conservatives.

Liberal groups have also poured $4 million into ads against Mr. Tillis, whom they perceive as the most viable candidate to take on Kay Hagan in the fall.

Their common goal is to force Mr. Tillis into a runoff with the hopes of unifying his opponents and eroding his financial advantage. A runoff would also give them an additional two months to campaign and build their momentum. The PPP survey showed the speaker leading Mr. Brannon by just six points in a run-off with non-Tillis primary voters breaking 47-29 for the tea party candidate.

Mr. Paul and his tea-party phalanx appear to oppose Mr. Tillis for no other reason than he’s the choice of the “establishment,” including Mr. McCrory, Mitt Romney, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and dozens of Republican legislators. The irony is that the “establishment” is backing Mr. Tillis because as speaker he’s quarterbacked government reforms championed by tea party groups.

Last year, he helped pass a tax reform that cut the state’s income tax, ranging from 6.0% to 7.75%, to a flat 5.8%; slashed the corporate rate to 5% from 6.9%; and killed the state’s death tax. He also rounded up votes for education reforms that eliminated teacher tenure; created vouchers for low-income and special-needs students; and lifted the state’s 100-school cap on charters. Don’t forget the national ruckus that the North Carolina legislature sparked last summer by scaling back weekly unemployment benefits, which cut off federally funded extended payments.

Behold the results: In just the last six months, North Carolina has added 56,000 jobs after averaging 60,000 annually between 2010 and 2012. Since January 2013, its unemployment rate has dropped to 6.3% from 8.8%, the largest percentage-point decline of any state.

Mr. Paul ought to be singing the speaker’s praises, not stumping for Mr. Brannon—a candidate with no distinguishing political qualifications other than an apparent subservience to the Kentucky senator.

http://stream.wsj.com/story/campaign...6/SS-2-525179/

Not surprised to the see the pro illegal immigration and amnesty Wall Street Journal taking up for Thom Tillis! Ugh!

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