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Rand Paul Is Skipping Fancy Farm and Why That Matters

WKMS/John Null

Presidential hopeful and U.S. Senator Rand Paul says he won’t attend the Fancy Farm political picnic in Graves County next month.

Paul is also running for re-election to his Senate seat next year, and experts say this could prompt future challengers to criticize Paul for not paying attention to his home state while he runs for two offices simultaneously.

Al Cross with the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues says Fancy Farm is a must stop for any politician in Kentucky running for statewide office.

"People in the far western part of Kentucky, very much isolated from the rest of the state, expect statewide politicians to come ask for their votes," Cross said.

But Rand Paul is also battling it out for the Republican Presidential nomination in a very crowded race. So, even though he’s also running for his Senate seat next year—Paul recently told the press he won’t be going to Fancy Farm.

"I think right now it looks like they've got me in New Hampshire that weekend," Paul said.

Cross says it’s not surprising Paul is focusing on looming presidential primaries. There are more than a dozen people running for the Republican nomination.

Paul doesn’t have any challengers yet for his Senate seat. Cross says if he does get an opponent, missing Fancy Farm could become a campaign issue.

"I think it does provide an opening for people who want to criticize him for not concentrating on his Senate job," Cross said.

Rand Paul attended the picnic last year and says he plans to be there in 2016.

This year's Fancy Farm Picnic is set for Saturday, August 1 and will be emceed by Kentucky Sports Radio's Matt Jones.

Ashley Lopez is a reporter forWGCUNews. A native of Miami, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism degree.
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