You've seen Trey Grayson's "There are big differences between Rand Paul and me" attack ads on Guantanamo Bay, military spending and coal, but now he may have found a "caught on tape" Rand Paul sound bite to turn the Kentucky U.S. Senate race around:
RAND PAUL IS A DUKE BLUE DEVIL!
Click here to watch the attack "ad" on Trey Grayson's campaign website, which includes grainy video of Paul saying he is a Duke Blue Devil. Grayson's campaign does not plan to air the video on television, but is displaying it on the campaign website. Paul is a Duke Medical School graduate. Grayson is offering "Beat Duke, Vote Grayson" bumper stickers on his website.
As every Kentucky citizen knows, the Kentucky-Duke rivalry is bitterly tied to the 1992 NCAA East Regional Final, when Christian Laettner's last second shot ended one of the most memorable college basketball games, ever.
It's anyone guess if underscoring Paul's Duke Blue Devil-ness will make any of the Wildcat faithful think twice before voting for Paul, or has any other effect. Grayson's campaign, while acknowledging that registering to get a bumper sticker will add voters to the campaign database, says it's all tongue-in-cheek.
"We're just having fun," said campaign manager Nate Hodson, but Grayson is a rabid UK fan, and a law school and MBA graduate at Kentucky. Grayson's Secretary of State's office in Frankfort has lots of U-K memoribilia (and Star Wars stuff, but that's a different story). One staffer said he nearly ran off the road on Sunday listening to the Kentucky SEC Championship game
The Democratic U-S Senate primary has already stoked the Kentucky-Duke fire in this memorable exchange at Fancy Farm in August:
Daniel Mongiardo: "We're going to have a spirited primary campaign. After all, Jack Conway is a proud Duke Blue Devil and I'm a proud Kentucky Wildcat!
Jack Conway: Yeah. I did go to Duke University, but it's not where you went to school it's what you did with your education. And for those of you who seem to be obsessed with this particular issue, I'll take a pledge right now. You know what? I'll tell you, I went there before Christian Laettner and I will take this pledge. Joe B. Hall is running around out here somewhere, and if it will help you out and make you feel better, I pledge to lay down in front of these cameras and we'll let Joe B stomp on my chest. How's that Daniel?"
Later, the Mongiardo campaign would exacerbate the Duke factor, after Conway hired a Duke grad as a campaign manager.
And, it's not just Kentucky fans who want to beat Duke.
If the Louisville Cardinals win their first round game, their likely opponent is the Blue Devils.
"The bracket gods were good to us," laughed Hodson.
