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Well, that escalated quickly.

No sooner has Sen. Rand Paul announced the launch of his presidential campaign Tuesday in Louisville, Ky., than a conservative group unleashed the first salvo in the 2016 political ad wars: a $1 million, 30-second TV ad calling the Republican presidential hopeful "dangerous."

Attack ads typically appear weeks after a candidate has announced. This time, it appears, a hawkish foreign policy group is determined to tieSenator Paul to Obama's Iran policy on Paul's announcement day.

The Senate is considering tough new sanctions on Iran, a male narrator says in the 30-second spot. President Obama says hell veto them. And Rand Paul is standing with him.

Paul supports Mr. Obamas negotiations with Iran, the ad suggests, and he doesnt understand the threat.

Rand Paul is wrong and dangerous, the narrator intones. Tell him to stop siding with Obama.

Because even one Iranian bomb would be a disaster, it concludes. Just like the infamous 1964 "Daisy" ad that attacked Republican presidential hopeful Barry Goldwater, thefinal shot is of a mushroom cloud.

The ad comes from the 501(c)4 nonprofit, the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America. According to Politico, the ad will run Wednesday through Sunday on broadcast TV in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada the four states with early presidential primaries and caucuses as well as nationally on Fox News.

The group is led by Rick Reed, who helped produce ads forthe "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" campaign, which in 2004 sought to undermine then-presidential candidate John Kerry's national security credentials.

This time, Mr. Reed's target is Paul.

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Rand Paul presidential bid immediately hit with attack ad ...

Rand Paul, Kelly Ashby and Rupert Murdoch attend the TIME 100 Gala in New York City in April 2014.

It's become something of a quadrennial tradition for Murdoch, the billionaire mogul whose observations on GOP politics are watched very closely within the party, to weigh in on the race for the White House. Two parts of his vast media empire -- Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal -- carry considerable influence in Republican circles. And Murdoch himself donated more than $32,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2014.

Earlier this year, Murdoch splashed cold water on another possible Mitt Romney presidential run, calling the 2012 Republican nominee a "terrible candidate" who had squandered his chance. Murdoch has spoken more positively about other potential candidates.

He likes former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush "very much," and he cautioned against writing off New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose administration is still facing a federal probe into traffic lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in 2013.

And Murdoch is definitely flirting with Paul.

"I personally like Rand Paul very much, and I am very impressed by his brain," Murdoch said earlier this year at the Manhattan Institute.

Late last month, on the same day that Ted Cruz announced his White House bid and appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show, Paul was interviewed by Megyn Kelly.

The programming schedule did not escape the notice of Murdoch.

"Just saw Rand Paul on Megan (sic) Kelly show," he said on Twitter. "Smart move ahead of Ted Cruz on Hannity...Contest warming up early, danger folks get tired."

Related: Rupert Murdoch backs away from comment about Muslims

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One person Rand Paul won't have to win over: Rupert ...

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky -- Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, made his presidential bid official Tuesday afternoon, laying out his vision to restore liberty and freedom to Americans. He's building his candidacy on a strong national defense, a flat tax, school choice, an end to government surveillance, and the "defeat" of the "Washington machine," and over the next few months he'll have the opportunity to see how receptive voters are to his plans for the country.

Paul's fight against big government has been a central theme ever since he ran a successful campaign for the Senate here five years ago. And although many dismissed Paul as a long shot candidate, his message proved to be well-suited to the moment.

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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says in order for the tea party to succeed politically, "We have to reach out to more people."

"It was a time when people were somewhat beginning to feel that the Obama administration was overreaching," recalled Dr. Dewey Clayton, a professor of political science at the University of Louisville who has watched Paul's career rise. "They were seeing government taking a larger role in their lives."

In fact, voter sentiment against the Obama administration was felt nationwide: 2010 was a year which saw Republicans gain six seats in the Senate, winning four open seats and beating two Democratic incumbents. Although Democrats held onto control of the Senate, Republicans won more senate races than they had at any time since 1994. But 2010 was also a year that saw the rise of the Tea Party movement.

It was clear that a Republican would take over the Kentucky seat vacated by Sen. Jim Bunning, who retired when he saw support for his reelection wane among those in his party's leadership. The party liked Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson for the job - GOP Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed Grayson two weeks before the primary. But Paul beat his opponent by more than 20 points. He won the general election as an outsider with just shy of 56 percent of the vote.

Dr. Brian Strow, who served as one of Paul's economic advisors during his Senate bid, sees a similar opening now for a non-establishment candidate on the national stage.

"If people are tired of a dynasty, this guy is the polar opposite," he said. "He's not the career politician."

Much of Paul's adult life revolved around politics, although not his own career. Paul, still a practicing opthamologist, owes years of his political experience to his father, former Texas congressman and two-time presidential hopeful Ron Paul. The younger Paul appeared alongside the elder Paul at campaign stops in 2007 and 2008, and at times went solo as his surrogate, giving the impression that Paul has always been comfortable on the national stage.

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Rand Paul revisits 2010 message in his 2016 presidential bid

LOUISVILLE Sen. Rand Paul, the maverick first-term senator who rode a tea party wave from a Kentucky ophthalmology practice to Congress, made a vigorous appeal Tuesday to conservatives angry with both parties as he entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Unveiling his campaign at a hotel ballroom here, Paul offered himself as a singular voice and fresh-faced disrupter of the entrenched political order.

Pauls appeal was rooted in part in the purist libertarian plank championed for decades by his father, former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. But the senator also seeks to move beyond his fathers base by stitching together a nontraditional coalition among disparate blocs of voters who share frustration with the federal governments role in their lives, whether evangelicals, tea party activists or tech-savvy millennials.

Paul pledged to be a combative envoy in a crowded and competitive GOP field that is likely to feature at least a half-dozen formidable candidates.

[Watch Rand Paul: We have come to take our country back.]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) officially announced his campaign for president in 2016 in his home state of Kentucky. Here are his full remarks. (AP)

I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We have come to take our country back, Paul said at the start of a 30-minute speech heavy on populism. We have come to take our country back from the special interests that use Washington as their personal piggy bank.

Flanked by American flags, Paul, 52, emphasized inclusion for a party that has struggled to adapt to national demographic changes and has fumbled the past two presidential elections. While the setting was one of a classic launch a dark-suited, flag-pin-wearing senator speaking on a ballroom stage Paul said he would reach out to all Americans who have tuned out of the political process and have become weary of partisanship.

Paul fleshed out pillars of his emerging, eclectic platform: amending the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget and congressional term limits, offering school choice for students, making investments in the nations highways and bridges, and repealing any law that disproportionately incarcerates people of color.

The message of liberty, opportunity and justice is for all Americans, whether you wear a suit, a uniform or overalls, whether youre white or black, rich or poor, Paul said. Many Americans, though, are being left behind. The reward of work seems beyond their grasp. Under the watch of both parties, the poor seem to get poorer and the rich get richer.

Continued here:
Rand Paul launches 2016 bid as a fresh-faced disrupter in the field

Sen. Rand Paul (R) officially announced his campaign for president in his home state of Kentucky. Here are his full remarks. (AP)

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky launched his bid for the White House on Tuesday as the most distinctive voice in the Republican Partys presidential field. The competition ahead will answer whether his candidacy can remake his party or will be undone by the orthodoxies he seeks to upend.

Pauls announcement speech was a reminder of why he often has been called the most interesting politician in the country, with a libertarian message that seemed to sweep across the ideological spectrum and that challenged the establishment of both parties.

But the address underscored as well the challenge Paul faces in trying to take the many pieces of his vision and convert them into a cohesive whole capable of attracting a winning coalition. On domestic and especially foreign policy, he will find himself under attack from his Republican rivals.

[Rand Paul launches 2016 bid: We have come to take our country back]

In his speech, the first-term senator wore many hats. He was part tea party activist, with a revival of the strong anti-government message that propelled him to victory in the 2010 Senate primary against the Kentucky GOP establishment led by Mitch McConnell, now the Senate majority leader.

I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words, Paul thundered as he took the stage before an enthusiastic audience of supporters. We are here to take our country back.

He painted his candidacy in vivid symbolism. We need to go boldly forth, he said, under the banner of liberty that clutches the Constitution in one hand and the Bill of Rights in the other.

He decried spending and deficits and the power of lobbyists and insiders, with a sign on the lectern that read, Defeat the Washington Machine. He said Washington is horribly broken and called for a constitutional amendment to balance the budget and for term limits for members of Congress.

But if he was a small-government tea party reformer, he was also channeling Jack Kemp, the late Buffalo Republican congressman and housing secretary who preached outreach to minorities and aid and assistance to inner cities and rarely worried about deficits.

Link:
Balz: For Rand Paul, is it enough to be distinctive?