Rand Paul Clears Hurdle: Can Run for Senate and President Says State GOP

With as many candidates as they have running, it is inevitable that the Republican Party will suffer the first losses in the race for the White House. According to Rachel Maddow yesterday, Lucky #1 will be none other than Rand Paul, who will be forced to choose between a long-shot at the Oval Office and an easier road to the Senate.

Watch courtesy of MSNBC (coverage begins at the 2:55 mark)

Unlike Marco Rubio, who went “all in” in Florida by choosing the presidency over his position in the Senate, Rand Paul has been “trying for years” to get his state to change the law so he can cover his bases and run for both president and Senate.

Not the sign of a man with the courage of his convictions.

Unfortunately for Paul, as Maddow points out, not only do Kentucky voters not want the law changed, but the legislature declined to change it. Which is why Maddow thinks Paul will be the first to drop out of the race, as early as this weekend.

As it happens, The Washington Post has reported that “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) avoided a major headache Saturday after Kentucky Republican Party approved a rule change that would allow him to run for president while seeking reelection to his Senate seat.”

Paul said in a statement posted to Facebook,

“I applaud the Republican Party of Kentucky on their decision to hold a caucus in the upcoming Republican presidential cycle. The people of Kentucky deserve a voice as the GOP chooses their next nominee, and holding a caucus will ensure that Kentucky is relevant and participates early in the process.”

So he cleared that hurdle. He can hedge his bets and have a consolation prize. As HuffPost Politics put it after today’s decision, his presidential campaign “has been saved.”

Does this make much of a difference? HuffPost Politics noted yesterday, and this is still true today,

Sen. Rand Paul’s campaign is teetering on the edge, with the once-trendy presidential candidate telling fellow Kentucky Republicans that his chances of winning the 2016 GOP nomination are no better than “1 in 10.”

Obviously, being able to run doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if the support is not there, turning Pauls’ presidential campaign into nothing more than a vanity campaign.

Republicans began today’s meeting by praying “your will would be done here today,” which is great, except for one little detail: God doesn’t get a vote, and there is nothing the Republican Party can do about that, and much as they will hate to hear it, Donald Trump will have more of a say than the Almighty.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.