More Election News

• VA: Cap and Trade Votes May Determine Key Races
• FL: Debate Cheating Flap Grows as Campaign Winds Down
• CO: Bennet Focuses on Small-Scale Outreach to Key Groups
• LA: Melancon and Vitter Have Divergent Strategies
• TX: Air Wars Intensify as Election Nears
• MN-6: Bachmann, Clark Spar Over Union "Card-Check" Bill, National Debt
• AR: Quiet Republican John Boozman Rises in Noisy Year
• FL-24: Caution May Cost Kosmas
• CA: Meg Whitman Says She's "Going to Win"
• PA: Candidates Spread Out Across State
• MA: Candidates Hone Messages in Final Debate
• VA-5: Obama Adds Stop for Perriello to Campaign Schedule
• KY: In Final Debate, Conway and Paul Focus Mainly on Issues

Kentucky Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul appears to have increased his lead over Democrat Jack Conway, according to two polls released on Tuesday.

A new Fox News/POR-Rasmussen poll showed Paul with a 50 percent to 43 percent lead over Conway, while a survey by Democratic affiliated Public Policy Polling (PPP) showed the Republican with an even larger 53 percent to 40 percent advantage.

In the Fox News poll, 53 percent of the likely voters surveyed said that Conway agrees with President Obama on issues too much, while only 26 percent said that he agreed with Obama the right amount. Those numbers do not bode well for the Democrat in a state where 76 percent of those surveyed said that Obama's policies have either not made a difference or hurt Kentucky's economy.

The PPP poll carried even worse news for Conway, as his deficit has risen to 13 percent from the 7 percent gap he faced in a PPP poll conducted in mid-September.

Sixty-two percent of the likely voters surveyed in the PPP poll said they were aware of Conway's controversial campaign ad, which said that Paul was part of an anti-Christian secret society and took part in an alleged hazing incident as a college student, in which an anonymous woman said that Paul and a friend tied her up and told her to pray to "Aqua Buddha."

Just 15 percent of those who were asked about Conway's ad said that it was appropriate.

Paul and Conway faced off in a debate in on Monday night for the second time since Conway's "Aqua Buddha" ad was released. After the previous debate, Paul refused to shake Conway's hand, but the latest head-to-head contest in Lexington was slightly more civil, as the candidates spent more time clashing over their vast policy disagreements.

One of Monday night's most memorable moments occurred when the candidates argued over whether Paul had changed his position on the FairTax, a proposal which would replace federal payroll taxes with a national sales tax.

"You have a simplistic worldview," Paul said. "You oversimplify things."

Conway shot back, "Are you talking down to me?"

"You don't listen," Paul replied. "You oversimplify things into sound bites because all you care about is winning. You don't really want an intelligent discussion."

While Conway continued to paint Paul as an extremist, the Republican sought to tie the Democrat to the Obama administration.

"The leader of your party, the guy you supported in the primary, your kind of Democrat, President Obama, is a disaster for our country," Paul said. "He's bankrupting us."

Conway said that he did not endorse Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

Outside the debate site, an ugly scene erupted when a member of the liberal group MoveOn.org tried to approach Paul as he entered the building to face Conway.

Video of the incident showed the MoveOn member being taken to the ground by a Paul supporter, with another Paul volunteer stomping his foot against her head as it was pressed against the pavement.

Paul's campaign on Tuesday condemned the volunteer's actions and announced that it had "disassociated" itself from him.