FROM BAD TO WORSE – AT 7:45 P.M. ET:  Does Rand Paul have any political common sense at all?  He knows he's fumbled badly since winning the GOP nomination for the Senate from Kentucky.  So what does he do?  Read on, from The Politico:

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul has replaced his campaign manager with a former communications aide to his father’s presidential campaign, an aide to Paul tells POLITICO.

Say what?  As nutty as Rand is, his father is ten times worse – a certified whacko who attracts the "I was abducted by an alien who looked like Golda Meir – crowd.  Does Rand understand the importance of symbolism in politics?

Jesse Benton, who served as communications director for Rep. Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential bid, will take the official title as campaign manager, replacing David Adams.

Adams will remain on the team and serve as campaign chairman.

The shuffle comes a week after the GOP nominee caused an media firestorm by making ambiguous comments about his support for the Civil Rights Act.

Benton was previously serving as senior vice president of the senior Paul’s Campaign for Liberty group.

COMMENT:  Reports indicate that the national GOP realizes it has a serious problem with Randy.  The fear, of course, is that Dems will try to "nationalize" the Rand Paul campaign, portraying it as symbolic of the Republican Party, which it ain't.  The fear is justified.  The sound you hear is the Obama White House sharpening its knives.

Employing his father's campaign manager links Rand Paul directly with dad, whose foreign policy views are neo-isolationist, and, in a strange way, to the left of the Democratic Party.

May 27, 2010