|
 Paul is expected to announce his candidacy on Tuesday at what is
described by his PAC as "a very special rally" scheduled for 11:30
a.m. at a hotel in Louisville, Kentucky's largest city.
The firebrand who wants to scale back the authority of the Federal
Reserve has been quietly courting Wall Street donors. The anti-war
agitator who mounted a 13-hour filibuster to call attention to the
United States' use of drones recently proposed a boost to military
spending.
And the 52-year-old former eye surgeon who harnessed the
anti-establishment energy of the Tea Party movement has been raising
money for fellow Republicans, at times upsetting the grassroots
activists who have made him a national figure.
His expected announcement on Tuesday will make him the second major
Republican figure to announce presidential ambitions for 2016 -
after Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. The field is expected to be
crowded, and candidates will be competing hard for constituencies
ranging from the Christian right to traditional Wall Street
Republicans.
On many issues, Paul’s positions aren’t different from mainstream
Republicans. He opposes Obamacare and abortion and favors cutting
taxes and spending. But his criticism of the Federal Reserve has
spooked many in the party's business-friendly wing, and his proposal
to balance the federal budget within five years is dramatic even by
the standards of the anti-spending Republican Party.
Still, he has surprised many party insiders as he has laid the
groundwork for the campaign.
"The people that I know of that talked to Rand Paul walk away pretty
impressed," said Ron Kaufman, a former Mitt Romney adviser who now
backs former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, considered a top contender
among Republicans though he has not declared himself a presidential
candidate.
But he is being watched closely by the libertarian activists who
were galvanized by the 2008 and 2012 White House bids of his father,
former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.
In Iowa, some prominent Ron Paul supporters have said they're going
back to Cruz in 2016.
In New Hampshire, some libertarians have been dismayed by Paul's
decision to back Scott Brown, a mainstream Republican, in their
state's primary for a U.S. Senate seat last year.
"There's an expectation that I'm supposed to be firmly in Rand
Paul's camp, but I've got my reservations," said Aaron Day, a
libertarian activist who heads the Republican Liberty Caucus of New
Hampshire.
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Paul was active in libertarian circles before he decided to run for
an open U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky in 2009. He became one of the
best known faces of the insurgent Tea Party movement when he upset a
favored candidate in the Republican primary a year later and went on
to win the election.
Paul starts the campaign in the second tier of Republican
candidates, drawing the support of 8.4 percent of Republicans,
according to a March Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll. That puts him
behind Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and former Arkansas
Governor Mike Huckabee, and in a statistical tie with four other
candidates - Cruz, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, neurosurgeon
Ben Carson and Florida Governor Marco Rubio.
Many of Paul's small-government notions, once consigned to the
fringe, are becoming more broadly accepted among U.S. voters. He has
co-sponsored legislation, with two Democrats, to loosen federal
marijuana laws, at a time when almost half the U.S. states have
legalized medical marijuana and several states have made the drug
legal for recreational use. Other Republican candidates now say that
states should have the right to set their own policies.
He has worked to build common ground with racial minorities who view
the justice system as too punitive and technology-industry
entrepreneurs who are skeptical of government regulation.
As Paul works to raise the $50 million or so he will need to be
competitive, he'll be able to count on support from some of the more
ideologically driven donors who underwrite the advocacy groups
backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch.
"He's doing really well with those people who are not mainstream
Republicans," said Frayda Levy, who sits on the boards of Americans
for Prosperity and Club for Growth, small-government advocacy
groups.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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