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Paul discussed the matter with staff Wednesday morning and sent out a statement confirming the decision to drop out of the Republican presidential primary.

"It's been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House," Paul said in the statement. "Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty."

Paul, a Kentucky Republican, is expected to instead place his focus squarely on his Senate reelection bid, where he faces a wealthy Democrat, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, who has the money to partially finance his campaign.

Paul finished a disappointing fifth place in Monday's Iowa caucuses, registering just 4.5% of the vote despite placing a heavy emphasis on the state's college towns to bring out younger voters inspired by his libertarian-minded message. He promised that night to continue his campaign.

Paul will not make an endorsement in the GOP presidential race before next week's New Hampshire primary, his spokesman Sergio Gor told CNN.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich told CNN he planned to call Paul, and that he wished him the best.

"I don't think he'll be for me, but I like him a lot. And I think he brought a lot to the race and I think the issues about the balance between the need for security and personal liberty was an important one. He's a good man and I wish him nothing but the best," Kasich said, adding that, if needed, he would campaign for him in his Kentucky Senate race.

Sources close to Paul said a review of their results made clear to Paul that there was not a viable path to winning the Republican nomination and that fund-raising was becoming extremely difficult.

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Indeed, as the New Hampshire primary approaches, where his father Ron Paul won 23% of the vote in 2012, polls have found the younger Paul struggling to gain traction.

Paul's calls for a less aggressive foreign policy, which his critics have dubbed as "isolationist," failed to connect with GOP voters at a time of growing national security fears. Moreover, Paul had a hard time reestablishing his father's libertarian coalition because he had sought to broaden his appeal to more establishment-minded Republicans, hurting his credibility with some in his core base of supporters.

Dropping out this early is a disappointment for Paul. He had engineered a major change in Kentucky's primary system to allow him to run for two offices at the same time, a move aimed at circumventing a prohibition in state law prohibiting candidates from doing so. The state party agreed to change its traditional paper ballot primary to a caucus system in early March, in order to let him avoid the restriction that he couldn't appear on the ballot twice.

Still, as he now focuses on his Senate race, he remains the heavy favorite in a state that has grown increasingly red.

"The Democrat Party in Kentucky has been very wounded by President Obama," Paul told CNN Sunday when asked if he were concerned about Gray's candidacy.

Paul's campaign account tweeted a reminiscent video Wednesday morning, thanking his supporters and featuring highlights from the senator's presidential bid.

CNN's Chris Frates contributed to this report.

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Rand Paul dropping out of presidential race - CNNPolitics.com

April 7, 2015

Senator Rand Paul Presidential Campaign Announcement Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.He told the crowd that the journey read more

Senator Rand Paul Presidential Campaign Announcement Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.He told the crowd that the journey to take back the country began now.He spoke at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky.The program included the pledge, national anthem, prayers, and introductory videos. close

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*This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who was seeking the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election, spoke at a

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) outlined his foreign policy position at a campaign rally held in front of the aircraft carrier

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, spoke to supporters at a campaign rally at Drake

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) met and talked with diners eating lunch at the Puritan Backroom, a restaurant and bar in

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Senator Rand Paul R-KY Presidential Campaign - C-SPAN.org

Rand Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American politician. He is the United States Senator from Kentucky. He is a Republican and the son of Ron Paul.

Paul is a member of the Tea Party movement.[2]

Paul was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father is retired U.S. representative and third-time presidential nominee Ron Paul. His mother is Carol Wells. He was raised in Lake Jackson, Texas.

Paul studied at Baylor University and at Duke University.

Paul was sworn in on January 5, 2011, along with his father, who simultaneously served in the House of Representatives.[3]

Rand was assigned to serve on the Energy and Natural Resources, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Small Business committees.[4] Paul also formed the Senate Tea Party Caucus.

For the 113th Congress, Paul was added to the Foreign Relations committee and retained his spot on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Small Business committees.[5]

On March 67, 2013, Paul engaged in a filibuster to delay voting on the nomination of John O. Brennan as the Director of the CIA. Paul questioned the Obama administration's use of drones and the stated legal justification for their potential use within the United States. Paul held the floor for 12 hours and 52 minutes.[6]

In the beginning of 2015, Senator Paul re-introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act.[7] Senator Paul also introduced the FAIR Act, or Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act, which would restrict civil forfeiture proceedings.[8]

On May 20, 2015, Paul spoke for ten and a half hours in opposition to the reauthorization of Section 215 of the Patriot Act.[9][10] Sections of the Patriot Act were prevented from being reauthorized on 1 June.[11]

Paul officially announced his candidacy for the 2016 U.S. presidential election on April 7, 2015.[12] He dropped out of the race on February 3, 2016.[13]

Paul married Kelley Ashby in 1990. Together, they have three children.

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Rand Paul - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, was viewed by some on the Right as the subject of the biggest cover-up in history and a sign of the coming apocalypse, so it came as no surprise that House Republicans eventually organized a special committee to investigate the attack, which had already been examined by several other congressional and executive panels.

Republicans have tried for years to use the terrorist attack which led to the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens to go after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is testifying before the committee today. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently admitted that the special committee was formed to bring down Clintons popularity in advance of the 2016 presidential election.

Of course, uncovering facts has never been the GOPs primary motivation when it comes to Benghazi (or much else). As these five instances show, Republicans and their allies in the conservative media have been much more concerned with creating bizarre scenarios to claim that the administration, and fellow Republicans, are suppressing the truth of the attack.

1) No Evidence But What The Hell

Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch unveiled an elaborate conspiracy theory earlier this year, alleging that the Obama administration wanted Libyan militants to kidnap Stevens in order to then do a prisoner swap for terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in the U.S. for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. However, the compound attackers botched the job after Stevens died, Fitton said, and therefore we can never know if the administration was actually ready to release Abdel-Rahman.

Fitton conceded in an interview with WorldNetDailys Jerome Corsi, a fellow Benghazi truther, that there is no evidence to support his theory.

Given what we know now, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the terrorist attack on Benghazi could have been a kidnapping attempt aimed at releasing the Blind Sheik, Fitton said.

He noted, however, there is no evidence that the Obama administration may have been complicit in any kidnapping plot related to the Benghazi attack.

And since he cant find any evidence to substantiate this claim, Fitton is pretty sure that there must have been a cover-up, insinuating that the State Department was trying to stop his group from receiving corroborating information.

2) Cover-Up Of The Cover-Up!

When President Obama first proposed bombing the Syrian regime after it used chemical weapons on civilians in Ghouta, Glenn Beck knew that Obama didnt want to stop such war crimes but instead wanted to cover up what really happened in Benghazi.

According to one conspiracy theory, Stevens was actually organizing an operation to transfer weapons from Libya to Syria to aid Islamic extremists (which of course raises the question of why these extremists would then want to attack the American post in the first place).

Seizing on that conspiracy theory, Beck speculated that it wasnt the Assad regime that used the chemical weapons in Ghouta, but rebels using weapons delivered from the U.S. via Benghazi. Now, Beck reasoned, Obama wanted to bomb Syria because he was covering the trail of the lost weapons from Benghazi.

Beck later claimed that David Petraeus stepped down as CIA director not because he leaked classified information to his mistress but because he was about to blow the Benghazi scandal wide open. Becks theory ran into a slight hitch when Petraeus publicly praised Clintons response to the attack.

Beck has also alleged that the administration let them die in Benghazi after issuing a stand-down order, an accusation refuted on his very own news website.

3) I Dont Have Any Proof

The arms-running conspiracy theory cited by Beck emerged in the right-wing outlet WorldNetDaily, a home of credible journalism such as Is Obama Biblical Lord of the Flies? and Does Bible Code Predict President Romney?.

While we werent surprised that Beck would pick up a conspiracy theory from such a website, it was a bit more shocking when a U.S. senator brought up WNDs conspiracy theory in a hearing with Clinton. At a 2013 hearing, Sen. Rand Paul demanded that a dumbfounded Clinton tell him if the U.S. was transferring weapons from Libya into Syria via Turkey.

Paul admitted that he didnt have any proof before suggesting that the gun-running scheme was what was really happening and the cover-up was an attempt to massage and get over this issue without getting into the gun trade.

Investigations, including one led by Republicans, have found that Stevens was trying to find weapons, but in order to keep them out of the hands of extremists, with no evidence at all that he then sent those weapons to Syrian groups.

4) Marijuana A Benghazi Distraction!

Ben Carson is very upset about the Obama administrations push to reform American drug laws. The GOP presidential candidate told Joseph Farah, the editor of WorldNetDaily (notice a theme?), that the administrations push to liberalize laws on marijuana, along with its stance on the trademark of the Washington Redskins, is all part of a plot to distract people from the Benghazi attack.

Carson told Farah last year that most people now just think Benghazi is a singer.

And these people vote and they have no idea, he lamented.

Carson isnt the only one to latch onto the distraction theme. Conservative activist Robert Knight of the American Civil Rights Union dedicated a column in the Washington Times about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Bradys since-lifted suspension by insisting that the Deflategate scandal was part of an effort to distract people from Benghazi. Iowa radio broadcaster Steve Deace similarly wonder if NFL prospect Michael Sams decision to come out of the closet was also just a Benghazi distraction.

5) Benghazi Special Committee Is Part Of The Benghazi Cover-Up!

Since every single official committee, including ones led by Republicans, that has investigated the Benghazi attack has ended up debunking the conspiracy theories percolating through the right-wing media, a group of conservative activists has launched theCitizens Commission on Benghazi to find the real truth.

This unofficial committee has embraced so many conspiracy theories surrounding the attack that its members even believe that the GOP-led Benghazi Special Committee is aiding the cover-up!

One member, Ret. Navy Adm. James Ace Lyons, told, guess who, WorldNetDaily, that committee chairman Trey Gowdy needs to go, lamenting that this is a continued cover-up.

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Rand Paul | Right Wing Watch

By: Caleb Howe (Diary) | March 13th at 04:00 AM |

Another day has passed, and with it more of our primary season voting. Yesterday contests took place in Wyoming and Washington, D.C. And in both, Donald Trump lost. And not by a little. Heres the results as they stand at the time of this posting. Wyoming: Ted Cruz won by a huge margin with 66.3% of the vote, followed by Marco Rubio in second place | Read More

By: streiff (Diary) | March 11th at 11:00 AM |

If you are running at an outsider, nothing says I promise to shake up the system like your super PAC hiring Mitch McConnells campaign manager.

By: Dan Spencer (Diary) | January 29th at 10:00 AM |

During the FoxNews/Google debate, Rubio once again demonstrated that he is the most articulate presidential candidate. As he has done in all seven GOP debates, Rubio answered some very tough questions and always responded with answers that sounded heartfelt, sincere and polished but not slick. Rubio, during the heat of a nationally televised debate, manages to offer reassurance, hope and inspiration.

By: Dan Spencer (Diary) | January 20th at 05:00 PM |

Senate Democrats continued pandering to Muslims and blocked the American SAFE Act. The bill passed the House in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks with a bipartisan veto-proof vote of 289 to 137, which included 47 Democrats.

By: Dan Spencer (Diary) | January 19th at 09:15 AM |

A new post-debate Insider Advantage poll of likely Georgia primary voters finds Donald Trump leading with 33 percent and Sen. Ted Cruz closing to within 10 points of the Donald with 23 percent. All the other candidates were in single digits:

By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | December 16th at 11:00 AM |

Pandering: Its an age-old political trick that is a staple of politics in America. Going back to before the present political alignment, the parties would say whatever it took, to whoever they had to, in order to forge a winning political coalition. is taking a lot of heat for his debate performance last night, but I believe hes playing the game intelligently: Hes looking to | Read More

By: Moe Lane (Diary) | December 13th at 01:30 PM |

The new debate lineup is here. Huckabees out; Paul isnt.

By: streiff (Diary) | December 13th at 10:22 AM |

RandPaul is signaling that his campaign for president may be nearing an end. Paul told the Boston Globe in an interview that if he fails to make the cut for the main debate on Tuesday night that we will make an announcement. These are rarely good words coming from a candidate. CNN (will someone tell me why the GOP is letting a basically unwatched news | Read More

By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | November 16th at 11:00 PM |

We all love to look at the Clinton Foundations donors. Even RandPaul says that foreign donations are thinly-veiled bribes to the Clintons. So why dont we look at the donations going to Ron Paul, which he is hiding from public scrutiny? Given that the elder Paul has been defending Russia, dont we have to question just why this is, and just how much money is | Read More

By: briansikma (Diary) | November 11th at 06:13 PM |

(R-KY) had a great night in Milwaukee on Tuesday. Going into the fourth GOP presidential debate, the libertarian Republican faced skepticism from several quarters about his ability to stand out in a crowded field that still hasnt winnowed itself since the departure of Gov. Scott Walker. Pauls debate performance was aggressive, he had passion, and he drove the discussion at several points. But his misstep | Read More

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | October 19th at 11:43 AM |

This is another not good sign for the campaign. He needs Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina to spring board into the SEC Primary and he does not have Iowa. It sounds like New Hampshire is not doing well either. His recent fundraising numbers are disappointing, his poll numbers are atrocious in places like New Hampshire where he should be thriving, a former top aide | Read More

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | October 15th at 04:30 AM |

Go home to Kentucky, Senator, and save your Senate seat before Kentuckys voters take the incompetence of your Presidential campaign as a reflection on you and your Senate campaign. What is the most endearing moment of RandPauls Presidential campaign is also the most embarrassing. The senator live streamed his entire day yesterday and took questions from people online. At one point, he referred to it | Read More

By: streiff (Diary) | October 14th at 12:26 PM |

For reasons known only to him, Rand Paul embarked upon a rather unstructured exercise into random-stream-of-consciousness as a campaign tool: (R-Kentucky) really did not like what he described as a dumba attempt to live streamhis entire day. Paul spent much of Tuesday beingfilmed by his campaign staff as part of a stunt to broadcastan entire day on the campaign trail inIowa on UStream, a live-streaming | Read More

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | October 14th at 10:27 AM |

Those arent my words. Those are his words. What an embarrassing end to s Presidential campaign. I actually had higher hopes for than this, but he has become an after thought. The latest polling has him trending below two percent, behind Mike Huckabee. He had so much potential. But that is all in the past. He might need to focus on his Senate seat now.

By: streiff (Diary) | September 29th at 02:22 PM |

looks to be on the verge of being forced out of the 2016 GOP primary field to the extent that he was ever in it. One of the three super PACs raising money to support Paul, PurplePAC, which is run by Cato co-founder Ed Crane, is closing up shop because it is dissatisfied with . One of the three super PACs supporting s presidential campaign | Read More

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Rand Paul Archives | RedState