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In 2012, Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul was a force to be reckoned with in the presidential race. His group of supporters - including many young voters - was limited, but passionate. Though he wasn't considered a serious contender for the Republican nomination, he had a strong showing in both the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, finishing third in Iowa with 21.5 percent of the vote and second in New Hampshire with 22.9 percent.

Now his son, Texas Sen. Rand Paul, is contemplating his own presidential bid. Both men come from the libertarian wing of the party, though Doug Wead, who has worked for both Pauls, calls the elder Paul a "classic libertarian" and the younger one a "practical libertarian."

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CBS News Political Director John Dickerson talks about Sen. Rand Paul's day of meeting with people in New Hampshire -- even though he won't make ...

And while Ron Paul was generally viewed as someone who ran for president to prove a point, his son could be a serious contender for the nomination. What he has to do is navigate the tricky dance of keeping his father's supporters engaged and on his side while attracting a whole other group of voters who might not have given Ron Paul a chance.

"His dad's base is not going to be enough,so he's got to find ways to expand the base and become, if not the favorite of different factions of the party, at least acceptable," University of New Hampshire Political Science Professor Dante Scala told CBS News. "He has to do that in such a way that doesn't make his father's base voters feel as if they're being betrayed or that Ron Paul's legacy is being compromised."

Politics isn't the first arena where Paul has followed in his father's footsteps. Like Ron Paul, who had a medical career that preceded his first run for office, Rand Paul also started out in the field of medicine. He was always active in politics, serving in the Young Conservatives of Texas club during college at Baylor University. He left for Duke University to attend medical school before completing his undergraduate degree, and he opened an ophthalmology practice in Bowling Green, Kentucky, after he completed his residency.

All the while, though, Paul was helping his father with his congressional campaign and 2008 presidential bid, and he started a group called the Kentucky Taxpayers Union in his home state. His rise coincided with the rise of the tea party in 2009, and in 2010 he defeated Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, the establishment pick for Kentucky's vacant Senate seat, to become a senator.

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) used old-school filibuster tactics, speaking for 12 hours and 52 minutes to hold-up John Brennan's CIA nomination. CBS Ne...

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Rand Paul's balancing act: What to do with Ron Paul's ...

Casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, one of the GOPs most forceful advocates for a hawkish foreign policy, is willing to fund an effort to stop Rand Paul from securing the partys presidential nomination, should the libertarian-leaning Kentucky senators campaign pick up steam.

The revelation comes in a New York Times analysis of the GOPs internal divisions over foreign policy heading into next years campaign. The rise of the Islamic State militant group has reinvigorated interventionists like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), both of whom would make national security and global affairs central themes of their presidential campaigns, should they run. Meanwhile, Paul is coming under withering intra-party criticism due to his general reluctance to support military force and his backing for the Obama administrations positions on the Iranian nuclear negotiations and the diplomatic rapprochement with Cuba.

The guy whos now got the biggest challenge because of this is Rand Paul, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, told the Times, speaking of the GOPs increased attention to foreign policy. The Rand Paul worldview, which I suspect will change, is just incompatible with reality.

While it remains to be seen how Pauls all-but-certain campaign will perform, Adelson is telling associates that hell bankroll an effort to thwart the senator should he come within reach of securing the partys nod, the paper reports.

Though Adelson has yet to back a 2016 candidate, GOP hopefuls are vying assiduously to secure his support in next years contest. Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, and John Kasich have all made sojourns to Las Vegas to curry favor with Adelson, who contributed $150 million to Republican candidates and outside groups during the 2012 campaign. Adelson backed Gingrich in that years GOP primaries, pouring $15 million into his campaign. While Gingrich lost the nomination to Mitt Romney, Adelsons contributions kept Gingrichs campaign afloat far longer than it would otherwise have remained above water.

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Sheldon Adelson signals hell bankroll effort to stop ...

Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney ponders a point as he addresses the student body and guests at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015. Romney joked about his time as a candidate and addressed a number of world issues including terrorism, world economy and domestically "the need for strong American leadership," and job creation for Americans. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

This story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.

Not long ago, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised his administration would battle online smut by strictly enforcingobscenity laws and compelling businesses to installpornography filters on every new computer sold in the United States.

That's what makes it jarring that Romney's all-but-defunct 2012 presidential committee with an assist from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is associating itself with astealthy front group that decries "government censorship" and is best known for producing a cheeky porno spoof that lambastes Internet regulation.

The motive? Cash.

Romney's committee continues to make money by renting the personal information of supporters to big data companies, which in turn peddle the information to most any special interest willing to pay for it, regardless of its views.

Paul, R-Ky., sent an emailon Monday in conjunction with an organization called "Protect Internet Freedom" that contends that "net neutrality" stands opposite freedom. The "net neutrality" debate concerns government rules that prevent Internet service providers from blocking or slowing online content, or prioritizing certain content in exchange for payment. The Federal Communications Commission isscheduledto votethis week on new "net neutrality" regulations, which manymajor telecom companiesandtrade groupshaveaggressivelyopposed.

Paul is a potential 2016 presidential candidate, and his father, Ron Paul, ran for president against Romney in 2012.

"These attempts to regulate the Internet are a direct attack on the freedom of information and an innovative market," Paul wrote in the email topped with a Protect Internet Freedom logo. "The government needs to stay out of the way ... We have to stop this aggressive, invasive and harmful regulation and we need all the help we can get to do it."

After Paul's signature come the message's disclaimers.

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Mitt Romney, Rand Paul And A Porno Spoof

OXON HILL, MD Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told college Republicans Thursday night that the Republican Party needs to champion the rights of minorities and be "the party of justice" if its going to succeed.

Paul appeared at the "Big Government Sucks" rally as part of the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he and other potential Republican presidential candidates are wooing influential conservative activists. Paul will speak to all the conference attendees on Friday, hoping to win the CPAC straw poll for the third year in a row.

"If we want our message to resonate across the land, if we want our message to be inclusive, I tell people, look the Republican party needs to look like America," Paul said.

"White, black, brown, rich poor, with tattoos and without tattoos, with earrings and without earrings," Paul said to applause. "We need to take our message where its not been taken before."

Paul said the bill of rights needs to be for "the least among us," and offered as an example Kalief Browder, a 16-year-old African American from the Bronx who spent three years in jail with no trial or conviction.

"You think his friends and his family dont believe that big government is not treating them fairly?" Paul said.

Paul said minorities whose rights need protection can also include people with ideologies and religions outside the mainstream.

"If we as conservatives and Republicans can take the bill of rights and take it to people who havent been listening to Republicans and say, it isnt always about property, it isnt always about guns , although it should support both, its about protecting the least among us," he said.

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Rand Paul says Republicans need to embrace minorities

Today we are going to unveil that we are returning $500,000 to the Treasury. We invited several representatives of taxpayers from around the state to receive this check. This is a check for $500,000, or representative of $500,000, that we are returning from our office budget to the Treasury.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), speaking at a news conference, Jan. 13, 2012

Senator Rand Paul returns $480,000 to U.S. Treasury from Office Budget, has returned $1.8 million since taking office.

headline on Rand Paul news release, Feb. 20, 2015

A reader spotted a news item about Sen. Rand Pauls annual announcement that he has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds and returned it to the Treasury. He wondered how accurate that statement was, and so we decided to look into it.

Theres actually less to this claim than meets the eyeone made by not just Paul but a number of lawmakers. But Paul certainly makes a big deal out of it, including the visual image of a giant check made out to The U.S. taxpayer.

The money that every lawmaker receives is subject to annual appropriations, just like funds for the executive branch. As part of that allotment, each lawmaker in the House receives a members representational allowance (MRA) and each senator receives a senators official personnel and office expense allowance (SOPOEA).

The money is intended to be used for office and staff expenses; the procedures and formulas for determining the amount for each lawmaker are slightly different in each legislative body.

The average amount for Houses members was $1.255 million in fiscal year 2014 while senators will receive an average of$3.24 million in fiscal year 2015, according to the Congressional Research Service. Few lawmakers spent every cent of their allotment, and some (especially in the Senate) leave hundreds of thousands of dollars unspent.

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Fact Checker: Did Rand Paul really return money to the Treasury?