BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky Senate hopeful Rand Paul has chided fellow Republican politicians for contributing to the nation's budget deficit in a speech to tea party activists in his hometown. Paul told the gathering in Bowling Green on Sunday evening that Republicans "have taken the easy way out" in the past by failing to back up tax cuts with corresponding spending reductions.
Paul said that Republicans squandered their congressional majorities in the past two decades, and said they doubled the national debt. He also took aim at Democrats, accusing them of even greater blame for rising deficits.
The Bowling Green eye doctor is a first-time candidate who defeated an establishment Republican in winning the GOP Senate nomination in the spring. He is running against Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway in the general election.
