Republican US Senate nominee Rand Paul plans campaign shake-up following gaffes

Rand Paul plans campaign shake-up after gaffes

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Kentucky senatorial candidate Rand Paul said Tuesday he’s planning a campaign staff shake-up a week after a round of interviews in which he dismayed fellow Republicans by discussing his views on racial segregation.

Campaign manager David Adams, who had been a Republican blogger in Nicholasville before joining up, will remain though perhaps in a different role, Paul said.

Paul, who declined to provide more details, won the GOP nomination last week with a campaign staff largely comprised of political novices and volunteers.

Adams would only say, “I don’t have any comment about that yet.”

A former aide to Paul’s father, Texas congressman and former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, has become increasingly visible in the Senate campaign. Jesse Benton, who was communications director for Ron Paul’s last presidential bid, has been by the younger Paul’s side at most of his recent campaign events.

A political firestorm has followed Paul since last week when he expressed misgivings about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, suggesting to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that the federal government shouldn’t have the power to force restaurants to serve minorities if business owners don’t want to.

On Tuesday, wearing his doctor scrubs, Paul spoke about his turbulent week to a friendly audience at a civic club in his hometown of Bowling Green.

He drew chuckles when he described last week’s campaign victory with the words of English novelist Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

Paul told the local group he doesn’t want to repeal the Civil Rights Act. He accused his Democratic rival, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, of starting the controversy by telling reporters that Paul wanted to repeal that landmark act.

Appearance Tuesday night on MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” Conway said that the attention given Paul’s comments has made the race “obviously about Rand Paul.”

Conway also said some in Kentucky might not appreciate the uproar created by Paul’s comments.

“Kentuckians are a proud people,” he said. “I think we’re a little embarrassed by some of the things that he has said.”