Rand Paul has widened his lead...

...in the polls over Democrat Jack Conway in the Kentucky senate race. At this point, it wouldn't be hard to see him winning in November. After all, Kentucky is a red state and Paul would only be replacing retiring Senator Jim Bunning, who is arguably just as wacky.

But it's also not hard to see Paul's senate career ending after only one term.

Why? Well, like most red states, Kentucky takes in more money from the federal government than it pays in taxes. In fact, Kentucky receives $1.51 from the federal government for every $1.00 it sends to Washington. Nice, huh?

But therein lies the quandary for Paul. If he stays true to his libertarian ideology, he'll vote no on any bill that brings pork to Kentucky, such as farm supports. If he drinks the Washington Kool-Aid, on the other hand, and emulates Mitch McConnell, the senior senator from the Bluegrass State, he'll be branded a hypocrite. Either way, he's toast in 2016. (A third -- and even worse possibility -- is that Paul is seen as a hypocrite who can't deliver the goods.)

In any event, Paul will probably be one of the few tea partiers to actually get elected in 2010, even if his tenure proves to be short-lived.

At least he can look forward to being the answer to a question in future Trivial Pursuit games.