GOP - Rand Paul's Presidential Highlight Reel w/ his Libertarian Twist

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul on NBC's Meet the Press this morning + panel discussion afterwards about him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj7B14t4Z-E#t=240 ~ 8mins
(Topics include republicans taking back the Senate, repealing Obamacare, expanding the GOP base to minorities, potential Prez run in 2016, repatriating money overseas to nation-build here at home/jobs etc, Rand playing kingmaker in the GOP)

Rand Paul on CNN's State of the Union this morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_6yyGo1XeY ~ 16mins

Also, on CBS' Face the Nation this morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsSNGBMMubM ~ 9mins


Enjoy!

[Chef Ramsay]

Paul calls Dem Senator Candidates 'Hillary's losers' #hillaryslosers

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has branded losing Democratic Senate candidates "Hillary's losers."

In a post on his Facebook page, Paul posts pictures of Clinton together with Rep. Bruce Braley (Iowa), Michelle Nunn, Alison Lundergan Grimes, and Sens. Kay Hagan (N.C.), Mark Udall (Colo.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.).

Over each photo is the tag #Hillaryslosers.

Clinton had campaigned across the country for Democratic Senate candidates, and Paul is arguing their losses are a referendum on Clinton, a possible 2016 presidential rival.

"Today, voters sent a message to President Obama and Hillary Clinton, rejecting their policies and many of their candidates," the post says.

He sure can troll with the best of them

more...http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/222999-paul-calls-dem-senators-hillarys-losers

[Kluge]

Paul calls Dem Senator Candidates 'Hillary's losers' #hillaryslosers

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has branded losing Democratic Senate candidates "Hillary's losers."

In a post on his Facebook page, Paul posts pictures of Clinton together with Rep. Bruce Braley (Iowa), Michelle Nunn, Alison Lundergan Grimes, and Sens. Kay Hagan (N.C.), Mark Udall (Colo.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.).

Over each photo is the tag #Hillaryslosers.

Clinton had campaigned across the country for Democratic Senate candidates, and Paul is arguing their losses are a referendum on Clinton, a possible 2016 presidential rival.

"Today, voters sent a message to President Obama and Hillary Clinton, rejecting their policies and many of their candidates," the post says.

He sure can troll with the best of them

more...http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/222999-paul-calls-dem-senators-hillarys-losers

It'd be more effective if Hillary had any likely competition, trying to get a weaker candidate the Dem nomination. It'd be pretty sad if the US confirmed a "democratic oligarchy" and ran Clinton vs. Bush (maybe the US Royalist party is onto something!)... sometimes these seem more like Marvel movies. We couldn't see the dynasties go head-to-head before, so instead of Wolverine vs Superman or whatever, it's Clinton vs Bush. 

Anyway -- probably the best positioning considering he can't already start attacking Bush. I noticed a US News (never heard of them, but they have high positioning in Google News) article trying to compare Paul to Obama, partially because they claim Rand's never held a "real job," unlike Jeb Bush (whose limited non-government work history could all be titled "Iron Triangle Coordinator").

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul's Economic Freedom Zone Plan Would Help Detroit

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, stopped by Detroit to boost the state's Republican candidates and tout his "freedom economic zones" proposal as a solution to the city's economic ills. Paul's proposal is consistent with Republican philosophy. It would reduce or eliminate federal taxes on residents and businesses located in Detroit and other distressed cities. It is a proposal that I made a decade ago and could hasten Detroit's return to being a dynamic urban community by decades.


The private sector builds and rebuilds cities, not the government. Look no further than the dramatic improvements resulting from private investments being made by Dan Gilbert in the city's downtown or the Ilitch organization and a host of small entrepreneurs in Midtown. The same is true in Detroit's neighborhoods where the private sector is made up of property owners and small businesses.


Paul's proposal addresses the city's major challenges of lifting the local economy through private investment without requiring any resources or tax dollars from the city. It is essentially a major federal grants program with no administrative costs that would dramatically increase Detroit's local tax revenues

...Consider a federal income tax credit of up to $500,000 for residents and $5 million for businesses. Residents would be drawn to the city for federal tax relief, increasing population and income levels and helping to stabilize struggling areas of the city. Businesses would be incentivized to expand or relocate to Detroit from all corners of the country, increasing the city's employment base and helping to alleviate an unemployment rate that is one of the highest in the nation.

This is based in part off the Jack Kemp idea of the early nineties but it's a great way to set the free(r) market in motion and rejuvenate Detroit and other urban areas (for starters) and prove that central planning doesn't work and drive a stake into the irresponsible financial heart of progressivism once and for all, all the while showcasing the powers of individual property rights in motion. He's been pitching it to the business communities here and there but I wish he would focus more on this as well as his repatriation of profits plan that he's just unveiled recently leading into the next few years.

More...http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2014/11/05/john-mogk-rand-paul-detroit/18484651/

[jabo38]

I hope it's Rand verses Clinton.

Right now Republicans can get away from stonewalling Obama and then blaming him for all the problems. In large part just because his color.

If Clinton wins that won't work because around half of Republicans are women and of the ones that are men, many don't want to be "sexist".

If Rand wins then he can't be stonewalled because he was an insider.

[TheButterZone]

Right now Republicans can get away from stonewalling Obama and then blaming him for all the problems. In large part just because his color.

BS, Obama is indistinguishable from, his content of character (bloody tyrant sociopath war criminal) just like, both parties' Caucasian presidents. Nobody elected a black president, if they did, a whole fuckton of innocents (not talking about aborted fetuses) would still be alive and well today, and a whole fuckton of the guilty in government would be dead or in prison for life.

Obama doesn't give a fuck about the "stonewalling" because when you're POTUS in modern times, you can commit any heinous crime you like, and not be impeached, or prosecuted for treason or any lesser statute.

[jabo38]

Right now Republicans can get away from stonewalling Obama and then blaming him for all the problems. In large part just because his color.

BS, Obama is indistinguishable from, his content of character "bloody tyrant sociopath war criminal" just like, both parties' Caucasian presidents. Nobody elected a black president, if they did, a whole lot of innocents (not talking about aborted fetuses) would still be alive today.

Obama doesn't give a fuck about the "stonewalling" because when you're POTUS in modern times, you can commit any heinous crime you like, and not be impeached, or prosecuted for treason or any lesser statute.

1.  Republicans stonewalled him and were on record saying it was their plan all along.
2. After he was stonewalled they blamed him as a "do nothing" president.
3. Much of the reason they were able to get away with this was his color.


Has he been going around fighting wars and have innocents died? Yes, he has and yes they have. And that was about the only thing he republicans didn't try to stop him from doing.

[TheButterZone]

Define "stonewalled" and "get away with", when Obama appears to have done everything he wanted to do short of exterminating all law-abiding gun owners (non-cronies that can't afford to coughbribecough campaign contribute). Poor, "stonewalled" "racist-victimized" Obama, didn't get to add millions more to his death tally.

[jabo38]

Define "stonewalled" and "get away with", when Obama appears to have done everything he wanted to do short of exterminating all law-abiding gun owners (non-cronies that can't afford to coughbribecough campaign contribute). Poor, "stonewalled" "racist-victimized" Obama, didn't get to add millions more to his death tally.

I think your narrative on what has been happening is quite skewed.

Rather than me explain it to you, and you not believe it, I suggest you read more than one newspaper and watch more than one television news station.  It would be even better if all are not owned by the same person.

By expanding your news outlets to those on both sides of the issue you can get a better idea of what is going on. 

Here are three I suggest, Fox News for the Repulican pump, Daily Show for calling total bullshit on Fox News for its blatant lies.  And the BBC for something more international and less biased.  Somewhere in between these three you can find the truth.     

 

[TheButterZone]

Define "stonewalled" and "get away with", when Obama appears to have done everything he wanted to do short of exterminating all law-abiding gun owners (non-cronies that can't afford to coughbribecough campaign contribute). Poor, "stonewalled" "racist-victimized" Obama, didn't get to add millions more to his death tally.

I think your narrative on what has been happening is quite skewed.

Rather than me explain it to you, and you not believe it, I suggest you read more than one newspaper and watch more than one television news station.  It would be even better if all are not owned by the same person.

By expanding your news outlets to those on both sides of the issue you can get a better idea of what is going on.  

Here are three I suggest, Fox News for the Repulican pump, Daily Show for calling total bullshit on Fox News for its blatant lies.  And the BBC for something more international and less biased.  Somewhere in between these three you can find the truth.      

I don't see how any reasonable person can say that Obama hasn't achieved all but one of his goals, hasn't committed even more evil than GWB (I certainly didn't think it was possible). And since the worst possible evil counts the votes and always wins where it matters, Obama will be succeeded by someone who will commit even more evil than him, and so on. There is no meaningful distinction between politicians of the 2 most "elected" parties in America; they both dance in innocents' blood, wipe their asses with documents advocating human rights!

You can't afford to pay me to spend even of a fraction of the time necessary to filter fucktons of bullshit anti-human rights biased news and guess at what is the truth.

[Chef Ramsay]

McConnell (the obvious new Senate Majority Leader): If Rand Paul runs for president, 'he'll be able to count on me'

McConnell also is intrigued by Paul's plans for 2016, when Kentucky's junior senator faces re-election to his Senate seat while potentially running for president.

It's a safe bet that Paul won't be the only member of McConnell's GOP caucus who considers trying for a move to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Does that require a tricky balance?

"(It's) not tricky at all," McConnell said. "Obviously, I'm a big supporter of Rand Paul. We've developed a very tight relationship, and I'm for him."

For president?

"Whatever he decides to do," McConnell said. "I don't think he's made a final decision on that. But he'll be able to count on me."

McConnell acknowledged that Paul's position "is complicated," since Paul's re-election bid could suffer from the attacks that come with a presidential run, but he said he would reserve any advice he has for Paul for their private conversations.

More...http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/06/3525224_mcconnell-reflects-after-reaching.html?rh=1

This is Rand's political capital coming back in large swaths, something his dad was never able to build in the first place. Also, considering who's gonna be running the show in the Senate, you're gonna see Rand's bills come to floor votes unlike when Reid was stonewalling anything that would allow Rand's populist libertarianism to take off and allow more of the public to see what he has to offer in terms of economic solutions to our ills.

[AJinNYC]

Seriously, they need to amend the US constitution to prohibit, a sibling, father, mother, daughter, son, or (former) spouse from being president if their sibling, father, mother, daughter, son, or spouse has been president.

Basically, in simple terms, they need to prohibit a one-generation connection (or spouse) of a former president from ending up in the role of president. Two generations of separation (grandparent to grandchild) is fine, but anything closer than that is ridiculous.

[lamaze]

Democrats should relax now and wait for their turn again.

[tins]

Seriously, they need to amend the US constitution to prohibit, a sibling, father, mother, daughter, son, or (former) spouse from being president if their sibling, father, mother, daughter, son, or spouse has been president.

Basically, in simple terms, they need to prohibit a one-generation connection (or spouse) of a former president from ending up in the role of president. Two generations of separation (grandparent to grandchild) is fine, but anything closer than that is ridiculous.

Those people would have the best idea on how to run a country and the political savvy to get bills pushed through.

[Chef Ramsay]

Here's an interview that Rand did on the 700 Club (CBN) this morning which is a widely watched channel by evangelical conservative Christians. The host is Pat Robertson who is quite an icon in social conservative circles yet he's also a major proponent for criminal justice reform which is a little unusual when you think of what a social conservative typically advocates for. Anyways, they talk about CJ reform, repealing and/or stripping parts of Obamacare, rescinding foreign aid from countries that treat religious minorities bad, the new republican agenda, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtN-MyBQBLk Rand comes on at the 2 min mark

Again, interviews like this are important to me because they are glowing of Rand to social conservatives when they otherwise could focus on gay marriage and abortion which usually drive social conservatives away from libertarians. Socons are usually one trick ponies and get blinded by the socon operatives that always seek to muddy the waters in the GOP and keeping them on the establishment's reservation despite the libertarian republican's solutions being the clear way to go. Enjoy

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Op-Ed: Obama’s ISIS War Is Illegal

The president is subverting the Constitution—and America’s latest undeclared war in the Middle East is just the latest example.
For a generation, Democrats stood up against Republican presidents who they deemed to be too eager to go to war—or too ready to put troops in harm’s way without the full consent of the American people through their elected representatives in Congress.

Where have those Democratic protectors of the constitutional authority of Congress gone? Was it always just a partisan attack on Republican presidents?

If not, when will Democrats—who so vociferously opposed a Republican president’s extraconstitutional war-making powers—stand up and oppose President Obama’s unconstitutional usurpation of war-making powers?

Yale Professor Bruce Ackerman puts it succinctly: “The war against the Islamic State is now illegal. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 gave President Obama 60 days to gain consent from Congress and required him to end ‘hostilities’ within 30 days if he failed to do so. This 90-day clock expired this week.” And yet, there’s been no consent, and no end to the fighting.

I believe the president must come to Congress to begin a war. I also believe the War Powers Act is misunderstood; President Obama acted without true constitutional authority even before the 90 days expired, since we were not under attack at that time.

But in either case, this war is now illegal. It must be declared and made valid, or it must be ended.

More...http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/10/obama-s-isis-war-is-illegal.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Things are heating up behind the scenes and I'm getting excited, y'all!

Politico: Rand’s grand plan - An inside look at the senator's presidential rollout

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has made key decisions about how to launch his presidential campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination, including a plan to headquarter his effort in Louisville and opting to run for re-election to the Senate at the same time he moves forward with the national race.

Coming off a midterm campaign blitz in 35 states, Paul has summoned a few dozen advisers – a mix of veterans of his father Ron Paul’s insurgent campaigns and more mainstream GOP leaders — for a closed-door summit at a Washington hotel on Wednesday to discuss his future plans.
...

Paul, who will face a much more crowded field on the Republican side but starts out as a slight front-runner in public polls, has begun an aggressive early campaign against Clinton. ... “And also, she didn’t think through the unintended consequences of getting involved in the Libyan war. So I think you’d have an interesting dynamic, were there's a [Republican] nominee that was for less intervention overseas and in the Middle East and that’s fiscally conservative. You’ve never seen that kind of combination before, and I think there’s a lot of independent voters, actually, that might be attracted to that kind of message.”
...

[H]is advisers have already laid out a timetable: They expect the campaign will be a “go” by mid-April, with an announcement as quickly after that as his staff can put together a fly-around to the early states.

Before zeroing in on Louisville as Paul’s likely campaign headquarters, advisers reached out to veterans of 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign to consult on the advisability and specific requirements of running a national campaign from outside Washington, deciding the symbolic importance of basing the campaign in his home state outweighed any concerns about easy access for Washington-based staffers and political operatives from across the country.
...

Kentucky has a law preventing a candidate from running for more than one office at a time, but Paul advisers believe they have found multiple ways around the restriction without changing the law or challenging it in court, including exploring changing the state’s GOP primary to a caucus.
...

[H]e’s already built what top GOP operatives consider by far the most extensive operation of any of the party’s presidential hopefuls...

Paul was endorsed for president last week by incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell...

Headed into the presidential campaign, leading Paul advisers include Jesse Benton, a longtime Paul family operative, who lives in Louisville; Doug Stafford, who is considered Paul’s chief strategist and leading planner of his presidential campaign; Nate Morris, an entrepreneur who recently was named to Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list and has been a Paul door-opener in Silicon Valley and beyond; and Doug Wead, who has been helping with outreach to evangelicals. His media consultant is Rex Elsass, CEO of the Ohio-based The Strategy Group for Media.

In the states with early presidential primaries and caucuses, the team includes: John Yob, a Michigan consultant and former John McCain operative who is RAND PAC’s national political director; in New Hampshire, Mike Biundo, who managed Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign; and in Iowa, Steve Grubbs and A.J. Spiker, both former chairs of the state Republican Party.

His top outside foreign-policy advisers are Lorne Craner, a former assistant secretary of state for President George W. Bush; and Elise Jordan, a former speechwriter for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Sergio Gor, who heads Paul’s communications team, is a social-media guru...

Scott Reed, who ran Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996 and now is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior political strategist, said: “In any two-week period of this last six months, Rand Paul did more smart things to grow the party than everyone else combined. Going to Berkeley and barrios and ghettos – he’s not afraid to go where no one else wants to go.”

More...http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/rands-grand-plan-112729.html

[bluemountain]

Things are heating up behind the scenes and I'm getting excited, y'all!

Politico: Rand’s grand plan - An inside look at the senator's presidential rollout

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has made key decisions about how to launch his presidential campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination, including a plan to headquarter his effort in Louisville and opting to run for re-election to the Senate at the same time he moves forward with the national race.

Coming off a midterm campaign blitz in 35 states, Paul has summoned a few dozen advisers – a mix of veterans of his father Ron Paul’s insurgent campaigns and more mainstream GOP leaders — for a closed-door summit at a Washington hotel on Wednesday to discuss his future plans.
...

Paul, who will face a much more crowded field on the Republican side but starts out as a slight front-runner in public polls, has begun an aggressive early campaign against Clinton. ... “And also, she didn’t think through the unintended consequences of getting involved in the Libyan war. So I think you’d have an interesting dynamic, were there's a [Republican] nominee that was for less intervention overseas and in the Middle East and that’s fiscally conservative. You’ve never seen that kind of combination before, and I think there’s a lot of independent voters, actually, that might be attracted to that kind of message.”
...

[H]is advisers have already laid out a timetable: They expect the campaign will be a “go” by mid-April, with an announcement as quickly after that as his staff can put together a fly-around to the early states.

Before zeroing in on Louisville as Paul’s likely campaign headquarters, advisers reached out to veterans of 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign to consult on the advisability and specific requirements of running a national campaign from outside Washington, deciding the symbolic importance of basing the campaign in his home state outweighed any concerns about easy access for Washington-based staffers and political operatives from across the country.
...

Kentucky has a law preventing a candidate from running for more than one office at a time, but Paul advisers believe they have found multiple ways around the restriction without changing the law or challenging it in court, including exploring changing the state’s GOP primary to a caucus.
...

[H]e’s already built what top GOP operatives consider by far the most extensive operation of any of the party’s presidential hopefuls...

Paul was endorsed for president last week by incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell...

Headed into the presidential campaign, leading Paul advisers include Jesse Benton, a longtime Paul family operative, who lives in Louisville; Doug Stafford, who is considered Paul’s chief strategist and leading planner of his presidential campaign; Nate Morris, an entrepreneur who recently was named to Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list and has been a Paul door-opener in Silicon Valley and beyond; and Doug Wead, who has been helping with outreach to evangelicals. His media consultant is Rex Elsass, CEO of the Ohio-based The Strategy Group for Media.

In the states with early presidential primaries and caucuses, the team includes: John Yob, a Michigan consultant and former John McCain operative who is RAND PAC’s national political director; in New Hampshire, Mike Biundo, who managed Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign; and in Iowa, Steve Grubbs and A.J. Spiker, both former chairs of the state Republican Party.

His top outside foreign-policy advisers are Lorne Craner, a former assistant secretary of state for President George W. Bush; and Elise Jordan, a former speechwriter for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Sergio Gor, who heads Paul’s communications team, is a social-media guru...

Scott Reed, who ran Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996 and now is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior political strategist, said: “In any two-week period of this last six months, Rand Paul did more smart things to grow the party than everyone else combined. Going to Berkeley and barrios and ghettos – he’s not afraid to go where no one else wants to go.”

More...http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/rands-grand-plan-112729.html

It is hard to believe that the presidential campaigns are starting up already - we are almost two years before the election. I think things will get to be more interesting as we move past the Iowa caucuses as this is when it becomes much more clear as to who will potentially win each party's nomination and the nominees can actually start campaigning against eachother 

[IflotsEgroj]

Nov. 11, 2014 7:55 p.m. ET
0 COMMENTS
Steps by Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) toward launching a presidential campaign in the wake of his party’s midterm sweep are raising questions about the role of his political mentor and father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul .

The elder Mr. Paul isn’t expected to be there on Wednesday when his son convenes political advisers from around the country for a private powwow in Washington, the latest sign that the 79-year-old former congressman may be on the sidelines of his son’s expected White House bid.

The gathering comes eight days after the Republican Party’s decisive victory in the midterm election, which drew far different reactions from father and son.

Sen. Paul had campaigned for many of the GOP winners, and the results handed him a chance to advance his legislative agenda as a member of the new Republican Senate majority. The election also sealed Sen. Paul’s alliance with fellow Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell , the presumptive new majority leader.

MORE IN CAPITAL JOURNAL

Harry Reid Remains Power Player As Senate Shifts
Sign Up: Capital Journal newsletter
“Tonight, we begin to rebuild America,’’ Sen. Paul told a cheering crowd at Mr. McConnell’s victory party.

By contrast, the former congressman shrugged at his party’s big win, which gave it control of the Senate.

“Don’t expect big changes,” the elder Mr. Paul posted on Twitter on Nov. 4, saying he expected that the new Congress would fail to cut spending and would lead the U.S. into a protracted war in Syria and Iraq.

“The change in control of the Senate from Democrat to Republican actually means very little, despite efforts by politicians and the mainstream media to convince us otherwise,” Mr. Paul added in a column posted with a group affiliated with him.

The contrasting views reflect the different paths taken by father and son, with the younger Paul determined to be taken seriously by a Republican establishment that considered the elder Paul a fringe candidate in his own White House bids. He ran once as a Libertarian and twice as a Republican.

Both Messrs. Paul draw support from the libertarian movement, which has provided them with a committed cadre of volunteers in their respective campaigns. But Sen. Paul also has taken a number of steps to broaden his appeal, reaching out to the party’s large-dollar donors, the business community and African-American leaders.

Many Republicans expect Ron Paul to remain on the edges of his son’s likely campaign, more visible online than in public, possibly helping to raise money and mobilize support in the libertarian community.

“The trick is for Rand to continue to get the best of both worlds—to capture his dad’s supporters who are so passionate, but also to show he is his own person with views and relationships in the mainstream of the Republican Party,” said Trey Grayson, who lost to Mr. Paul in the 2010 Republican Senate primary in Kentucky.

Mr. McConnell backed Mr. Grayson in that race, then threw his support to Mr. Paul in the general election. Ron Paul attended only a couple of public events during his son’s Senate campaign.

In some respects, Sen. Paul seems to have two political godfathers: Ron Paul, revered in the tea party movement that launched his son into the Senate, and Mr. McConnell, arguably the most powerful Republican in Washington, who said two days after the election that Mr. Paul could count on him if he ran for president.

Sen. Paul has said he would not make a formal announcement about a White House bid until the spring.

Meanwhile, he is expected to turn to Mr. McConnell for support on his legislative priorities, including bills that would reduce sentences on nonviolent drug offenders and offer a temporary tax holiday for U.S. companies to repatriate offshore profits.

Sen. Paul’s spokesman declined to answer questions about Ron Paul’s involvement in a possible 2016 presidential campaign. Attempts to reach Ron Paul were unsuccessful.

In this year’s elections, Sen. Paul supported Mr. McConnell over a tea party challenger in Kentucky’s GOP primary. For Mr. Paul, the alliance earned goodwill from business groups and established GOP donors but gave pause to some conservatives, who think Mr. McConnell is beholden to corporate interests and who fault him for striking deals with Democrats that raised the debt ceiling.

Mr. Paul also stepped closer to the mainstream of his party—and parted with his father—by supporting U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

Drew Ivers, who helped lead Ron Paul’s presidential campaigns in Iowa in 2008 and 2012, said he isn’t ready to commit to Mr. Paul’s son. He cited unease with Mr. McConnell and U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, as well as family obligations.

“I’m going to watch the field to develop a little more,” said Mr. Ivers, who had dinner with Rand Paul when he visited Iowa in August. “I also want to see how Rand negotiates a few more obstacles in the course he is taking.”

Chris Stearns, who worked on Ron Paul’s campaign in Virginia, said he probably would help Rand Paul, but in a more limited capacity.

“There are a small group of folks who won’t support Rand because they’ve come to the conclusion that he is a sellout,” Mr. Stearns said. “I just think he’s being pragmatic. At the end of the day, Rand’s base of support is so much broader than his father’s.”

[Suspicious link removed]j.com/articles/rand-pauls-2016-plans-may-not-feature-famous-father-1415753743

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul, advisers meet to strategize on 2016 Presidential bid

In preparation for his all-but-announced 2016 presidential bid, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, gathered staffers and political advisers from across the country for a meeting in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

The meeting, just eight days after midterm elections that saw Republicans seize the Senate majority and strengthen their grip on the House, was described as an opportunity for Paul and his advisers to pivot from the midterms to the next presidential cycle.

"As I understand it, this meeting is to both literally and symbolically change focus after the November election," one person who was invited told National Journal, "and begin to take deliberate action toward a potential 2016 run."

"This is the come-to-Jesus before the planned launch," added another adviser.

Doug Wead, a presidential historian and adviser to Paul who attended Wednesday's meeting, told CBS News the gathering was "mind-blowing" in its organization.

"Have been a part of nine presidential campaigns in one way or another, this is the best organized, most intelligent I have seen yet," he said. "This crew has a sense of making history, of impacting the system, of ending corruption. They are young, attractive, smart, tech savvy, black, white, male, female. This event is supposed to be working on organizing the upcoming work, but this event itself is a model of efficiency."

The gathering of talent was perhaps the most obvious sign yet that Paul is on the cusp of announcing a presidential bid, but the Kentucky senator hasn't exactly made a secret of his ambition.

He kept a busy schedule during the 2014 midterms, helping Republicans up and down ballot in an attempt to build relationships--and earn favors--before the 2016 race begins in earnest. He's hired key staffers in early caucus and primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire. And he's made an effort to build credibility among the Republican establishment, which has occasionally looked askance at his quick rise in the party.

That skepticism can be blamed, at least in part, on Paul's father, former Texas congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul, a hero among conservative libertarians due to his opposition to foreign military intervention and his push to audit the Federal Reserve. The elder Paul, according to the Wall Street Journal, was not expected to attend Wednesday's strategy session.

Ron Paul's presidential campaigns were powered by a devoted core of disciples who were never quite able to turn their candidate into a genuine contender. Rand Paul has been steadily working at avoiding his father's more marginal appeal by hewing closer to the party's center on foreign policy and economic issues.

There are signs that his courtship of the old guard is paying off. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Paul's colleague from Kentucky and the leader of the Senate GOP, is about as establishment as a Republican can get. McConnell has said Paul can count on his support if he runs in 2016.

More...http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rand-paul-advisers-meet-to-strategize-on-a-2016-presidential-bid/