Rand Paul, more signs of presidential intentions
It seems there is almost a daily new indication that Senator Rand Paul is planning to run for president in 2016. National Review reports today that Doug Stafford, Paul’s chief strategist, is leaving his Senate post to run Paul’s political action committees, in addition to focusing on organization in early primary states and communications and scheduling needs.
(National Review) Doug Stafford, a longtime conservative activist, first rose to prominence as Paul’s confidant during the 2010 campaign, and has been his highest-ranking Senate aide ever since. Previously, he was in the inner circle of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, and worked as a consultant for the Campaign for Liberty.
Stafford will be focused on directing the senator’s organization in early-primary states, his calendar, and his communications. He will also run Paul’s political-action committees, which are expected to grow. Those groups — RAND PAC and Rand Paul for U.S. Senate — are the financial and political foundation for Paul’s likely presidential campaign.
(iroots.org) Another indication that Rand Paul is advancing in the three-dimensional game of presidential politics is the nearly weekly hysterical article from a worried neoconservative war hawk attempting to warn the party–in this case–of ultimate demise!
In the Public Policy Polling survey of New Hampshire, Rand Paul has 28 percent, Rubio and Christie also score double digits, followed by Bush and Ryan with 7 percent each. Elsewhere on the far-right flank, neither Santorum nor Perry can break 5 percent. At least at this early stage, Paul has the market cornered.
Of course, there is no guarantee the establishment will remain split and the base will solidify around Paul in the end. The above simply shows there is a plausible scenario in which Paul can snatch the nomination without the establishment’s blessing.
More important but less noticed was McCain’s April 18 speech to the Center for New American Security that threw down the gauntlet against the Paul forces, lashing out against isolationism and calling for “a new Republican internationalism.” He concluded by lamenting, “There are times these days when I feel that I have more in common on foreign policy with President Obama than I do with some in my own party.”
Where might the “new Republican internationalists” go if Paul wins this intra-party battle? Considering that likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton helped engineer the U.N.-backed military coalition that ousted Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and reportedly pushed Obama to directly arm the Syrian resistance, it’s not hard to envision a “Republicans for Hillary” campaign if the alternative is Rand Paul…
Read more (it’s good for a laugh!)