Sen. Mitch McConnell isn’t the only Republican senator from Kentucky taking heat from his home state Tea Party these days.

Tea Party groups in Kentucky are criticizing their beloved Sen. Rand Paul this week over his support for immigration reform — though he has not come out 100 percent in favor of the Gang of Eight bill that just made it to the Senate floor yesterday — questioning whether his presidential ambitions in 2016 are clouding his judgment on the issue.

This morning, the Northern Kentucky Tea Party posted this message on their Facebook page along with an article quoting the details of Paul’s speech to the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles:

“In 2010 when then Rand Paul was running for Senate he said no welfare benefits to illegals or their anchor babies and that we don’t need any more immigration laws what we need is to enforce the laws that are on the books. i guess running for president has made him change his mind!”

Those basic sentiments were shared by United Kentucky Tea Party leader John Kemper in an interview with LEO yesterday. According to Kemper, Paul has been meeting with “pro-amnesty” groups all over Kentucky — Louisville, Bowling Green and Lexington, as well as national groups — but is refusing to meet with conservatives opposed to the current immigration reform bill. Today he said over 10,000 individual faxes will be sent to Paul’s office, telling him to oppose the bill.

“Rand doesn’t appear to be listening to our side,” Kemper says. “He’s not having meetings with anybody who is anti-amnesty, but he meets with 3,000 pro-amnesty folks. It’s one issue, but it’s pretty significant.”

Kemper pointed out the immigration forum in Lexington that Paul spoke at, which LEO Weekly covered.

“You saw who was in that room,” says Kemper. “Did you see a single anti-amnesty person in that room? I have no problem with someone having a private meeting, but I do when that’s all you’re meeting with. We’ve sent letters from all the Tea Parties to Rand and Mitch saying there’s not a Tea Party organization in the state that agrees with the Senate bill.”

Kemper added that he thought Paul was cynically trying to play both sides of this issue in order to boost his presidential chances in 2016.

“He can say I was really trying to work this out with his Democrat friends in 2016 when he runs for president, and then he can go back to his Republican base and say we tried to get the security issue in there and Democrats just wouldn’t do it,” says Kemper. “So he’s playing politics… Most politicians try to keep one side or the other with him, but he’s magically ticked off both sides on this issue. I don’t know how he runs for president doing that.”

A poll from an establishment Republican pollster released today shows that Kemper and the Northern Kentucky Tea Party’s views on immigration are in the minority in Kentucky, as 63 percent of Kentuckians support the basic outline of the Senate immigration reform bill. It should also be noted that establishment Republicans are the ones pushing for immigration reform within the party, realizing that further alienating the growing Latino demographic could lead to permanent minority status for the GOP in the future.

Kemper also shared some rather… interesting views on immigration from the South, saying “The Puerto Rican and Cuban Latinos are different from those coming from Mexico and other South American states, because (the latter) see government as a way to prosper,” adding that Mexicans take welfare benefits despite also buying “widescreen TVs and 24-inch rims.”

As we mentioned in our story on Paul two weeks ago, such inflammatory rhetoric might just as well have come out of the senator’s mouth three years ago. But not anymore, which is at least a small part of why the Tea Party is so angry with him now.

If you’ve seen Sen. Rand Paul on any of his 389 political talk show appearances since last fall’s election, you’ve probably heard him say how his party needs to become “less aggressive, more socially tolerant” in order to convince the kids on the West Coast and Northeast that the Republican Party isn’t “stale and moss-covered,” but totally groovy.

But Groovy Liberty Patriot only shows up when he’s speaking to a national audience that wants to hear that kind of stuff.

Once Paul gets in front of audiences full of evangelicals in early primary states, that’s when he trots out the “Obama is sooo gay, right!?” jokes. Though Groovy Paul will talk about “thousands of exemptions” for abortion on CNN, when speaking with an email list full of fetus lovers he will call for the criminalization of “killing babies” on the federal level (small government conservative that he is).

Paul talks about his party needing to become more tolerant on ABC, but when he gets in front of church congregations, he’ll break out lines like this, as he did last week:

“There is a moral depravity that’s spread throughout our country, but the answer is not necessarily in your political leaders,” Paul said at a later service. “The answer is in your church and your spiritual leaders and, frankly, in the whole country erupting into a revival. We need some kind of spiritual cleansing.”

Paul, of course, is already squeaky clean.

It’s this evangelical crowd that Rand’s father never could win over — or stoop low enough to try to win — and he thinks that he can trade hats at different venues to win them both over.

In the pursuit of these voters in advance of the 2016 presidential primaries, Paul found an ally to help him get his foot into the pew. David Lane — a well-connected evangelical political operative — has been Paul’s Sherpa, leading him everywhere from Israel to Iowa, introducing Paul to the influential faith leaders whom he’ll need to convince that he is “one of them,” and not — as Lane put it to The Washington Post — “hyper-libertarian.”

The trouble with evangelical Sherpa operatives, though, is that sometimes they reveal themselves to be completely bonkers.

Lane recently penned a thoughtful piece for World Net Daily — the right-wing emporium of conspiracy theories about Obama’s birth certificate, bigotry, and political analysis by Chuck Norris and Pat Boone — where he asked a very simple question I’m sure we’ve all asked from time to time: Should we as Christians martyr ourselves before the treacherous pagan onslaught of dirty homosexuals getting married at the pagan campfires of gay boy scouts?

Before you read the excerpts below, I should add that Lane’s article was taken down by World Net Daily… yes, because it was too crazy for World Net Daily.

The last paragraph of Peter J. Leithart’s “Between Babel and the Beast” frames properly the battle facing America:

“Throughout Scripture, the only power that can overcome the seemingly invincible omnipotence of a Babel or a Beast is the power of martyrdom, the power of the witness to King Jesus to the point of loss and death. American Christianity has not done a good job of producing martyrs, and that is because we have done such an outstanding job of nurturing Americanists who regret that they have only one life to give for their country. Americanists cannot break Babelic or bestial power because they cannot distinguish heretical Americanism from Christian orthodoxy. Until we do, America will lurch along the path that leads from Babel to Beast. If America is to be put in its place – put right – Christians must risk martyrdom and force Babel to the crux where it has to decide either to acknowledge Jesus an imperator and the church as God’s imperium or to begin drinking holy blood.”

…

Where are the champions of Christ to save the nation from the pagan onslaught imposing homosexual marriage, homosexual scouts, 60 million babies done to death by abortion and red ink as far as the eye can see on America? Who will wage war for the Soul of America and trust the living God to deliver the pagan gods into our hands and restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage and re-establish a Christian culture?

Let’s make it crystal clear: Those who embrace homosexual marriage and homosexual Scouting – or homosexuality in general – know little and practice nothing of Christianity. Notwithstanding Sen. Rob Portman – or the 1,400 Boy Scout delegates who buckled – Christian love is regulated not by impulse, but by principle. “We hence conclude, that not only the reprobates ought to be reproved, severely, and with sharp earnestness, but also the elect themselves, even those whom we deem to be children of God.” [John Calvin]

As to the future of America – and the collapse of this once-Christian nation – Christians must not only be allowed to have opinions, but politically, Christians must be retrained to war for the Soul of America and quit believing the fabricated whopper of the “Separation of Church and State,” the lie repeated ad nauseum by the left and liberals to keep Christian America – the moral majority – from imposing moral government on pagan public schools, pagan higher learning and pagan media. Bill Bennett’s insight, “… the two essential questions Plato posed as: Who teaches the children, and what do we teach them?” requires deep thought, soul-searching and a response from Christian America to the secular, politically correct and multicultural false gods imposing their religion on America’s children.

…

Polling shows that of the 65-80 million evangelical Christians who read their Bible, attend church and pray, half of those are not registered to vote, half of that half don’t vote, and of the 25 percent who voted in 2012, 22 percent of them voted for President Obama. Whether the mobilization of pastors and pews to save the nation goes against the grain of the pagan, liberal media elite is not relevant. America’s survival is at stake, and this is not tall talk or exaggeration.

…

If the American experiment with freedom is to end after 237 years, let each of us commit to brawl all the way to the end because, “Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.” [Winston Churchill]

In short, Rand Paul is totally going to win California in 2016, because this is just the kind of hip and fresh tolerance and moderation that the kids are craving these days.

This morning representatives from Planned Parenthood of Kentucky and Planned Parenthood of Indiana will announce they are merging, with those in Kentucky hoping to dramatically increase reproductive services in the state.

Multiple sources familiar with the decision tell LEO that they hope to expand abortion services in Louisville by the end of the year, with Lexington slated to follow afterward. This would dramatically increase access in Kentucky, as there is currently only one clinic in the state (Louisville) that provides such services regularly.

House parties were recently held in Louisville and Lexington announcing the decision with key Planned Parenthood allies.

An elected official in Kentucky who was informed of the move tells LEO that this is an exciting development for Kentucky, as it will ease the burden and cost for a great number of women.

“I wish it was more than Lexington and Louisville, but this is much better than nothing,” the elected official says.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana has been under attack in recent years by their state legislature, with attempts to defund the organization currently being stymied by the courts.

It’s almost like those $20,000 fines leveled every year on the multi-billion dollar energy conglomerate haven’t convinced LG&E to change their ways.

On Wednesday, the Louisville Air Pollution Control District delivered a notice of violation to LG&E for emissions of fly ash from the Cane Run plant’s coal ash landfill to the surrounding neighborhood from last summer to this February, which was supported by visual and scientific evidence.

Just like the LG&E violations over the past two years, APCD cited the testimony of and video taken by neighbors who witnessed fly ash billowing out of the landfill toward the neighborhood across the street. But where this violation differs from other times LG&E has been penalized is the clear and unambiguous scientific evidence that coal ash is leaving their property and landing on homes across the street.

APCD took surface samples from homes across Cane Run Road that had recently been power washed, finding significant levels of fly ash. In addition, ambient air samplers off of the property — and commissioned by LG&E — detected up to 19 percent fly ash in the same time period.

APCD only fined LG&E $5,000 in the current notice of violation — for one fly ash emission incident this February — but APCD spokesman Tom Nord tells LEO that they reserve the right to fine LG&E in the future for the other emissions documented and positive fly ash samples found off-property. That ultimate decision will come after they discuss a mitigation strategy with LG&E to fix the long-running problem.

Cane Run resident Kathy Little — who has long battled LG&E over the fly ash blowing into her neighborhood — says that while she appreciates the hard work of APCD, she is concerned that there is only a $5,000 fine with only vague plans for future fines and mitigation, which obviously haven’t worked to solve the problem up to this point.

“To me it looks like there was a hell of a lot of work put in over a long period of time, and there’s not a significant fine or penalty out there,” Little says. “And that concerns me. We’re not being protected, and it would take a lot more people getting involved for anything of a real magnitude to happen to solve the problem.”

Following last week’s PPP poll showing a deadlocked potential 2014 race between Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, today Wenzel Strategies released a poll showing McConnell with a much more comfortable 7-point lead over Grimes, along with a 6-point lead over former Miss America Heather French Henry. The poll also showed a majority of Kentuckians have a favorable opinion of McConnell and grade his job performance as either “excellent” or “great.”

Fantastic news for the KY GOP, right?

Well, here is Wenzel Strategies’ track record from their polling last November:

Missouri Senate race, McCaskill (D) vs. Akin (R)
Wenzel: Akin by 4
Result: McCaskill by 16

Ohio Senate race, Brown (D) vs. Mandel (R)
Wenzel: Mandel by 5
Result: Brown by 6

Pennsylvania Senate race, Casey (D) vs. Smith (R)
Wenzel: Casey by 1
Result: Casey by 9

Virginia Senate race, Kaine (D) vs. Allen (R)
Wenzel: Allen by 3
Result: Kaine by 6

Wisconsin Senate race, Baldwin (D) vs. Thompson (R)
Wenzel: Thompson by 2
Result: Baldwin by 5

Ohio presidential race
Wenzel: Romney by 3
Result: Obama by 3

Virginia presidential race
Wenzel: Romney by 2
Result: Obama by 4

What we have here is a strong track record of getting statewide races wrong by wide 6-20 point margins, all in Republicans’ favor.

So Wenzel Strategies says that Grimes — who is currently weighing whether to jump into the race while determining whether she has a chance to win — is down by 7 percent? There’s no way on earth that Grimes, Kentucky Democrats, or the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are looking at that poll and fretting about the invincibility of the beloved McConnell. Especially when Public Policy Polling — unarguably one of the most accurate pollsters of 2012, if not the most — has the race dead even.

All the Democrats need now is a candidate… grab a Snickers.

(Endnote: This is the first poll we’ve seen with Henry, so it’s difficult to determine what to make of this. Republicans would likely enjoy planting some seeds of doubt among Democrats that Grimes is the strongest candidate, so this may very well be some special Wenzel engineering to make Henry look like the strongest Democrat, but we’d have to see more reliable polling before we know for sure.)