As McConnell Aide Holds His Nose, The Senator Stays His Hand
Sen. Mitch McConnell undoubtedly had no illusions that he would be the ideal candidate of Tea Party conservatives.
Still, the Republican leader in the Senate couldn't have expected what sounds like disdain from his own campaign manager.
"Between you and me, I'm sorta holding my nose for two years because what we're doing here is going to be a big benefit to Rand (Paul) in '16. So that's my long vision," Jesse Benton, the campaign manager, said during a phone call, secretly recorded early this year by a conservative activist, and recently published by Economic Policy Journal.
Benton, a libertarian, has been a top campaign aide to both Ron Paul, the former congressman from Texas, and his son, the junior senator from Kentucky, who is talked of as a possible presidential candidate. Benton is also married to a granddaughter of the elder Paul.