Great job by Matt Bevin and 125,876 Kentucky voters. But it was 'Tea Party Senator' Rand Paul not McConnell who 'crushed' the Tea Party. In 2012 and 2013 Rand blended his campaign with and endorsed McConnell, said he wouldn't back a Tea Party challenge

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5/20/14, "2014 Primary Election Results," Real Clear Politics

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The Tea Party  "crushing" happened when top American "Tea Party Senator" and author of "The Tea Party goes to Washington," flipped and went Establishment. In Sept. 2012 Rand Paul blessed his campaign's merger with McConnell's, said tea partiers could agree with McConnell and in March 2013 formally endorsed McConnell.

9/13/2012, "Mitch McConnell hires Ron/Rand Paul’s campaign manager," leoweekly

"Rand Paul said...“I think there are a lot of things the tea party, if they don’t already know about, will learn that will draw them toward Sen. McConnell.”

 

Easy there, Rand. Don’t assume your followers will so easily sell out and join forces with the man who represents everything they are against in the Republican Party. Not everyone in Kentucky is as career-driven and hypocritical as you."...

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 "The Tea Party Goes to Washington," published Feb. 2011, by Rand Paul

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Rand Paul endorsement of McConnell "quashed" potential TP challengers:

3/27/2013, "Rand Paul endorses Mitch McConnell in 2014 Senate race, won’t back tea party challenge," Daily Caller, P. Howley

"Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is endorsing Sen. Mitch McConnell for re-election in 2014, ending speculation that Paul would back a tea party challenge to the Senate minority leader....

"The move quashes a determined effort by Kentucky Republican Liberty Caucus chairman David Adams, who launched Paul’s Senate bid and served as Paul’s campaign manager through the 2010 primaries, and other tea party leaders to mount a primary challenge against McConnell."...

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5/20/14, "McConnell crushes Tea Party challenge,"" The Hill, Alexandra Jaffe

"Hiring (Jesse) Benton, who formerly worked as Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) campaign manager, was one of them; earning (Rand) Paul’s endorsement was another."...

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5/19/2014, "Mitch McConnell Is No Longer the King of Kentucky," National Journal

Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, photo via Daily Caller

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Comment: What remains of the Tea Party needs to get out of the way so we can get on with our job. The TP may have died when Andrew Breitbart died, but it did for sure when its obviously fake star Rand Paul flipped early and supported Mitch McConnell, the exact opposite of everything the Tea Party stood for. National groups with the words "Tea Party" in their name have been counter-productive as have their spokespersons. This doesn't even get into Tea Party groups that are GOP co-opt jobs. 

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