Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
As he
gears up for his big Tuesday presidential announcement, Sen. Rand Paul has already
lined up support from some of the most far-right House members—true members of the vandal caucus:
During the launch, or soon after, the senator is expected to announce endorsements from a host of House Republicans who will help his campaign in some capacity. Among them: Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Raul Labrador of Idaho, and Mark Sanford of South Carolina. [...]
... all are united in their common status as thorn-in-the-establishment's-side Republicans: These four, among others, are the conservatives who have made life miserable for Speaker John Boehner and his House leadership team over the past several years. They have voted reliably against the leadership's wishes—and, in several cases, against Boehner himself as he sought election as speaker. Amash was kicked off the House Budget Committee for his rebellious antics; Labrador unsuccessfully challenged Kevin McCarthy for the position of House majority leader in last summer's special election. In this Congress, they formed the House Freedom Caucus to organize their intra-party opposition.
The people who push Boehner to take hostages like Department of Homeland Security funding, in other words. And that's just what Paul is looking for:
Paul will lean heavily on his soon-to-be congressional surrogates, but he won't be looking for just anyone to help his campaign. The senator's allies say his recruiting pitch has been narrowly aimed at Congress's most conservative and tea-party-friendly lawmakers.
That's
not the approach Paul claims he's taking with voters—he distinguished himself recently from Sen. Ted Cruz by saying that:
... what makes us different is probably our approach as to how we would make the party bigger. And I’m a big believer that you should stand on principle and be true to your principles, but I also think that we should take those principles and try to bring in new people with them.
Hmmm ... he's trying to reach out to a broader base of voters, but is only interested in support from the most conservative members of the House. Who do you think he's trying to play for fools—ordinary voters, or his congressional allies?