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But he faces a rare challenge. The first-term senator from Kentucky wants to keep his day job as a U.S. senatora gig that's up for re-election in 2016while simultaneously making a run at the White House.

Unfortunately for him, Kentucky law prohibits candidates from appearing on the same ballot twice. So Paul and his allies have devised a plan that would help him circumvent that electoral barrier.

On Saturday the first-term senator will go before the Kentucky Republican Party to propose moving the state's presidential preference vote from the May 2016 primary to a caucus two months earlier in March.

That way his name won't appear twice on the May ballot, and Kentucky's presidential nominating contest could possibly become relevant in the national horse race for delegates with an earlier spot in the primary calendar.

It sounds like a win-win situation, but it's an institutional change that would cost a lot of money, require months of planning and potentially lead to lower voter turnout.

Despite the concerns, interviews with more than half a dozen members of the state party's executive committee, which will hear Paul's pitch on Saturday, suggest that the party is likely to move forward with the idea.

The state's party chairman, Steve Robertson, has already appointed a task force to figure out how a caucus could be held in Kentucky. The executive committee will vote Saturday on the appointment of that team.

Paul has spoken with a vast majority of the 54-member committee about his proposal, and he'll elaborate on many of the arguments he laid out in a letter last month to the committee.

"My request to you is simply to be treated equally compared to other potential candidates for the Presidency," he wrote, noting that others, like Rep. Paul Ryan in 2012, have run for their current seat as well as an office on the presidential ticket at the same time.

When the idea of a caucus was first floated, it was met with skepticism from within Republican circles, according multiple Kentucky GOP sources. But Mitch McConnell, the ultimate ringleader of GOP politics in the state, decided to endorse the plan, essentially providing Paul a green light and creating a game changer in the local debate.

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Rand Paul searches for green light on caucus proposal ...

After Rand Paul was widely excoriated for failing to show proper enthusiastic respect for Dear Leader Netanyahu after his war address to Congress, I blogged about his Israel problem in "Can Rand Paul Ever Be Sufficiently Pro Israel?"

In that post I mentioned the previously reported New York Times story saying that GOP superfixer Sheldon Adelson had announced his intention to spend big if necessary to ensure Paul didn't get the GOP presidential nod.

Rand Paul now says that he personally met with Adelson and was assured that Times story was a lie, as National Journalreports:

"I sat down with he and his wife yesterday and they assured me there was no truth to that," Paul said on the radio showJewish Moments in the Morningon Wednesday, "That was somebody spreading falsehoods."

Paul has aggressively courted Adelson, who was in Washington to watch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address a joint session of Congress, and other top Jewish Republican donors in the last year. Paul said on the program that he and the Adelsons also discussed his legislation to cut off funding for the Palestinian Authority. "We have good relations and we had a great and very informative discussion," Paul said.

It may or may not make Paul fans feel better to know that a man who wasted fortunes on Newt Gingrich and thinks we should proactively nuke Iran is someone he's courting.

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Rand Paul Says Sheldon Adelson Told Him That Adelson Is ...

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul took his first step toward running for president with state party leaders on Saturday endorsing his plan for a presidential caucus in 2016.

The move clears the way for Paul to run for president and for re-election to his Senate seat without breaking a state law that bans candidates from appearing on the ballot twice in the same election.

The state GOP's central committee must still sign off on the proposal in August. But, more importantly for Paul, Saturday's vote by the Republican Party of Kentucky's executive committee was an early endorsement of his unusual plan for dual campaigns ahead of a wide open Republican presidential primary.

"I just want to be treated like many other candidates around the country who have not been restricted," Paul told reporters after the vote.

Paul has characterized himself as a "different kind of Republican," and campaigning for two offices at once would certainly set him apart among the Republican field. Of the numerous potential Republican candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is the only one also up for re-election in 2016. Rubio has said he would not run for both offices.

Paul has gone to great lengths to reach out to minority voters, including sponsoring bills that would eliminate sentencing disparities in what he has called a racially biased criminal justice system and endorsing plans to restore the voting rights of some nonviolent convicted felons. But Saturday's vote was so important that Paul missed the events in Selma, Alabama, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the landmark civil rights march led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. And he missed an agricultural forum in Iowa, an early caucus state, where many of his Republican rivals spoke.

Saturday's vote was unanimous, but it came after two hours of debate behind closed doors. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan made the motion, but he left quickly after the meeting without taking questions from reporters. Both Paul and state party Chairman Steve Robertson said the party was united. U.S. Reps. Bret Guthrie and Thomas Massie attended the meeting and others, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have indicated their support.

"I do think it's important that we kind of move forward with this. And the anxiety is there. I mean, I think about that, too," Guthrie said. "I just think it's worth it. I think it's worth the work."

The state GOP has established a committee to study the issue and have a report ready by the Aug. 22 central committee meeting.

Secretary of State Alison Grimes, Kentucky's chief elections official and a potential Democratic candidate for the Senate, said the caucus proposed by Paul "could create potential chaos in our electoral process and severely undermine the integrity of the Commonwealth's elections."

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Kentucky GOP clears path for Rand Paul to run for Senate, presidency at same time

Sen. Rand Paul was the top choice of conservatives in a straw poll for potential Republican presidential contenders at an annual conservative conference near Washington.

The Kentucky Republican has been a repeat favorite among the GOP's right flank, and won the Conservative Political Action Conference poll for the third consecutive year.

Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker tallied a close second, while the remaining dozen or so contenders trailed, according to results in the Washington Times, which sponsored the contest.

Paul earned 25.7% of the vote, followed by Walker with 21.4%.

Most of the Republicans who took to the stage at the annual multi-day conference over the river from the capital have not yet officially declared their intentions to run for president in 2016.

But the conservative gathering provides a proving ground for the budding campaigns. The record-breaking crowd topped 11,000, organizers said.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took 11.5%, narrowly besting retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 11.4%.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush acknowledged during his talk that he would be happy if skeptics who view him as more moderate than they prefer would consider him their "second choice." He won 8.3%.

Another Floridian, Sen. Marco Rubio, took 3.7%.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie neared the middle of the tally, with 2.8% -- behind Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina, but ahead of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Originally posted here:
Sen. Rand Paul wins conservative CPAC straw poll - again

Story highlights Rand Paul wants his hat in ring for both president and Senate Kentucky GOP moves toward creating caucus to allow that scenario Democratic state official criticizes move

The plan allows the first-term U.S. senator, who's running for re-election and making a likely bid for president, to get around a Kentucky law that prohibits candidates from appearing on the same ballot twice.

Rand Paul searches for green light on caucus proposal

After Paul met with the party's 54-member executive committee in Bowling Green for a two-hour session, the group voted unanimously to appoint a smaller committee that would decide the rules and regulations of how a caucus would be held.

The final vote would come in August when a larger gathering of the Kentucky GOP is scheduled to meet and hear a more detailed plan from the task force.

"We thank the members of RPK for their unanimous support and look forward to continuing this process," said Paul's top adviser, Doug Stafford, in a statement.

Kentucky law allows the state party to determine the details of its presidential preference vote, but not the primary for other elected offices in the state.

In other words, Paul's name for his Senate re-election bid would still remain on the May 2016 primary ballot, but the presidential vote would likely move up earlier in the year to March.

The senator appeared at the meeting to address some concerns about a caucus, namely the increased cost, as well as the lower voter turnout typically associated with caucuses.

He has pledged to raise money through his donor network to help offset the costs, and proponents of the caucus argue that the significant media attention expected and Kentucky's earlier placement in the nominating calendar would spur just as much turnout.

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Rand Paul proposal for caucus moves forward