The money bomb is back. Borrowing a page from his father’s playbook, Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul of Kentucky raked in more than $430,000 during a Thursday Internet-based fundraising drive.

Paul, a Bowling Green eye surgeon, is the son of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who gained attention in 2008 by running for the Republican presidential nomination on a libertarian platform.

The online fundraising event, which coincided with the elder Paul’s 74th birthday, attempted to mimic his father’s successful “money bomb” efforts in 2008 that attracted small donations from conservatives nationwide, including $6 million in a single day.

Paul announced his Senate bid earlier this month, soon after Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame major league baseball pitcher, announced his decision to not seek a third term in 2010.

Rand Paul, a son of Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, is making official his 2010 campaign for a Senate seat in Kentucky.

Paul, an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, had referred to his Senate campaign as an "exploratory" effort. "Dr. Paul will now transition his exploratory committee to a full election committee," his campaign said in a release Wednesday.

Paul initiated his campaign in mid-May, when Republican Sen. Jim Bunning was still saying he planned to seek re-election. Paul is declaring his candidacy for Bunning's seat less than two weeks after Bunning said July 27 that he would not run.

One of the more interesting state political rituals is Kentucky's Fancy Farm Picnic, held on the first Saturday in August in the far western part of the state.

Plenty of pork, mutton and political speeches are served up and there's cheering and jeering of candidates for office who have come to view the picnic as a must-stop.

The two Democrats and two Republicans who are the major 2010 candidates for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Jim Bunning all spoke at last weekend's gathering. You can find videos here of Democrats Daniel Mongiardo, the lieutenant governor, and Jack Conway, the state attorney general. You can find videos here of Republicans Trey Grayson, Kentucky's secretary of State, and Rand Paul, an eye surgeon whose father is Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul.

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.

Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, the son of Texas congressman and 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul, has organized an "exploratory" campaign for the Senate seat of Republican incumbent Jim Bunning.

Rand Paul, an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, disclosed his plans Thursday night on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC program and in a press release on Friday.

"The Republican Party's lost their mojo," Paul said on MSNBC. He added, "We've lost our believability. It's not that our message is so bad, but we've said we're fiscal conservatives, and then we doubled the deficit."