Pre-Game Briefing

I'm not too terribly excited about voting tomorrow.

This is due to a variety of reasons, not the least of which is because I live in Kentucky. And not just any district in Kentucky, but what I feel is one of the "reddest" districts.

At times, I often ask myself why I still live here. The reasons are enough to keep me in my home, which I own; keep me at my job; which pays quite well for the work done ( yes, I'm in a union ) and has a great health insurance plan that isn't going to increase because of healthcare legislation - they are actually going to give us money to put into our "health savings accounts" as of January 1st; and keep me fighting for the voices in my community that are far too often drowned out by the modern conservative establishment.

The question is - do I expect Rand Paul to win?

If you are to take recent polling numbers as gospel, Jack Conway has a 9 point deficit to conquer if he wants to take the Senate seat away from the clutches of Rand Paul.

And while polls do show voters emotive responses prior to an election rather than how they will actually vote come tomorrow, this isn't the standard type of election we are facing. Now, more than ever, we are facing the fact that misinformation, foreign interests, and a homegrown noise machine so bent on defeating Obama and Democrats not because of policy decisions, but because they didn't have to guts to take the strides needed to better this nation.

Make no mistake about it, Republicans were in favor of many - if not most - of the nuances of healthcare reform just a few years ago. But since Democrats took the initiative and won - albeit on a seriously muted scale from what the majority of Americans wanted - those same Republicans are wanting to repeal the bulk of healthcare reform not because it needs to be done, but because they may have the opportunity to do so. That's not looking out for the better interests of those you are tasked to represent; that's politicizing and issue in order to make your career shine a little more to the few.

And that's just one, if not the best, example of what Republicans are running on.

Mitch McConnell and John Boehner have both stated that the primary goal of Republicans is defeating the Obama administration. What reason do they give? What alternative plan do they offer? Because he is who he is. And as far as an alternative plan, we are offered nothing more than platitudes, generic, hyperbolic, blatherings, and fear-mongering.

I do recall how the Tea Baggers were engaged in jubilant praise when Scott Brown was elected. That praise and energy disappeared quite quickly after it was revealed that Brown wasn't the Tea Bagger Messiah that many claimed he was. Will the same be true for people like Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, Pat Toomey, or even Marco Rudio?

I'm looking for the Tea Party to get a few wins in tomorrow night. But I'm also looking for a serious case of buyers remorse once the new legislative year begins.

In terms of Kentucky, I know that there are more than a handful of people that want exactly what Rand Paul does - even though he is claiming he either never made these statements or has begun to back away from them. I know that there is racism in the hearts of many people in my district, as I have seen it and had to work within proximity to it for nearly 5 years. I know that Rand will carry my county, and all those that vote for him will have to live with that decision, but there is a small glimmer of hope that Conway will be close enough to contest the results, for there to be a recount or perhaps a run-off.

The Tea Baggers are already celebrating a win that they have no idea what their champions are going to do with. Do they honestly think that if all their candidates make it into office that the remainder of Republicans are going to simply fall into lock-step with them? Do they really think that without concrete ideas, solutions, and even a rudimentary knowledge of how the bulk of America feels they are more entitled to create legislation? Can you imagine Rand Paul sponsoring documentation that would allow all privately owned business to begin open discrimination? Who would honestly back that?

Make no mistake, tomorrow is going to be ugly. If the Tea Baggers make even a few wins, they will shout from the metaphorical mountaintops that they have "taken back" America. But if they don't make the gains they feel they are entitled to, look for the conservative noise machine to amp up allegations of voter fraud.

Brace yourselves.