Like His Father, Ron Paul's Kentucky Son Raises Cash Online

A possible bid for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination in Kentucky certainly won't enable eye surgeon Rand Paul to rake in the mega-millions in campaign donations procured by his much better-known father -- Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul -- when he campaigned for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination on his strongly libertarian-tinged platform.

But the younger Paul, a first-time candidate for public office, has taken a page from his father's playbook by going online to build up the treasury for the "exploratory" Senate campaign committee he established in May. And he pronounces himself pleased with the fact that his receipts topped $100,000 in a little more than a month.

Paul's organization said it hasn't held any fundraising events, instead collecting mostly small contributions "from over 1,200 regular people who nickle and dimed their way to an impressive showing" in advance of the candidate's fundraising report for the year's second quarter, which is due to be filed by July 15.

Paul is laying the groundwork for a Senate campaign in the event that two-term Republican incumbent Jim Bunning does not seek re-election. Trey Grayson, Kentucky's secretary of state, also has formed an exploratory committee but says he would step aside and not challenge Bunning in a GOP primary.

Bunning's re-electability is one of the biggest concerns for Republican strategists heading into the 2010 campaign. A narrow winner in both 1998 and 2004, Bunning has unusually low job approval ratings -- in part because of his reputation for having an abrasive personality that puts off even some fellow Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader (and fellow Kentuckian) Mitch McConnell.

But the 77-year-old incumbent, who had a Hall of Fame career as a major league baseball pitcher, thus far has rejected suggestions by some leading Republicans that it may be time for him to retire.

Bunning's political problems have prompted national Democratic strategists to target the 2010 Kentucky race, and two of the state's most prominent Democrats -- state Attorney General Jack Conway and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo -- have launched campaigns for their party's Senate nomination. Mongiardo, as a little-known state senator, came within just more than 1 percentage point of upsetting Bunning as the 2004 Democratic nominee.

CQ Politics currently rates the 2010 Kentucky Senate general election as Tossup.

To see how the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.