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Story highlights Jeb Bush's post-Romney New Hampshire calculations Rand Paul's weekend travel plans & surprising strategies GOP immigration showdown: figuring out how "to cave"

1. MITT BOWS OUT, AND JEB MOVES IN

With Mitt Romney now officially out of the 2016 GOP nomination chase, New Hampshire becomes a more wide-open race, and the Jeb Bush camp is hoping to make fast inroads.

Jonathan Martin of The New York Times notes with a crowded field, Iowa's vote likely will be splintered and the state is known for its strong evangelical base. South Carolina, stop three on the calendar, could be influenced by the possible candidacy of home state senator Lindsey Graham.

Romney would have been the early New Hampshire favorite. But now?

"I'm told that immediately after Mitt made his move on Friday, the Jeb folks started to figure out how they can get two key operatives in that state, Jim Merrill and Tom Rath, both old New Hampshire pros, both of whom were Mitt guys who had stayed loyal to Mitt but are now free agency," said Martin.

2. COMING SOON: A PARADE OF LONGER THAN LONG SHOTS

Watch New Hampshire over the next couple weeks and you might come to the conclusion it is easier to count the Republicans NOT considering a 2016 presidential run.

On tap to visit soon: former GOP Govs. George Pataki of New York, Jim Gilmore of Virginia and Bob Ehrlich of Maryland. Also, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and former high tech CEO Carly Fiorina have New Hampshire travel plans.

All of them are longer than long shots, should they run. But former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is due back, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, too.

Link:
Jeb Bush & Rand Paul's post-Romney moves - CNN.com

Provided by The Hill Rand Paul casts eyes toward Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is already angling for a share of the 153 Republican delegates in Texas who will be up for grabs in early 2016.

Most of the medias attention is focused on Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two contests of the Republican presidential primary.

But Texas, the biggest Republican state in the nation, holds more delegates than four key states ahead of it on the calendar.

The other so-called carve-out states that precede Texas are South Carolina and Nevada.

The early map is favorable for Paul, who is near the top of a crowded field of possible GOP contenders. He has a natural advantage in New Hampshire and Nevada, two states with libertarian leanings that mirror his views.

And a new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll shows the Kentucky senator running in second place in Iowa, only a point behind the frontrunner, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

The Texas primary, which is scheduled for March 1, 2016, will have a major impact on the delegate count. Pauls allies think it could be a difference-maker in the race. Only California has more delegates, 172, but its primary isnt until early June, when the nominee will likely have already been decided.

We will be the second biggest, said Steve Munisteri, the Texas Republican Party chairman who will step down from his post to serve as a senior advisor to Pauls expected presidential campaign. Were the fifth primary. Youre going to have the four carve-outs and then Texas.

Iowa and New Hampshire have 28 and 21 delegates, respectively. Nevada has 40 delegates and South Carolina has 48 delegates.

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Rand Paul casts eyes toward Texas

The letters came from a young ophthalmologist in Kentucky. He was recruiting for an eye doctors rebellion.

We wont be trod upon, he wrote, using the language of 1776. You cant promulgate injustice without consequences.

The injustice he was talking about was a new rule, from the powerful group that deems American ophthalmologists to be board-certified. It required younger doctors to take a test that older doctors did not have to take.

The Kentucky doctor was so outraged that he seceded and started his own Board of Ophthalmology, so he could certify himself.

You can send a clear message to the establishment by signing up to be certified by the new board, too, the letter said. Check the appropriate box and return the card with your $500. Sincerely, Rand Paul, M.D.

The letter, from about 2003, helps illuminate a little-understood (and mostly ridiculed) chapter of Pauls life before politics: how he became a self-certified ophthalmologist.

The saga began in the 1990s, when Paul now a senator representing Kentucky and a GOP presidential contender hatched a plan to put his familys free-market ideals into practice. He wouldnt submit to the establishment. He would out-compete it by offering doctors an alternative with lower fees and fairer rules. His do-it-yourself medical board lasted more than a decade, becoming one of the most complex organizations Paul ever led on his own.

But it didnt work. Indeed, in a life of successes, it became one of Pauls biggest flops.

The board certified only 50 or 60 doctors, by Pauls count, and was never accepted by the medical establishment. It failed partly because of resistance from the old guard but also because Paul hurt his own cause with shortcuts and oversights that made his big effort seem small.

The other officers of his board, for instance, werent ophthalmologists. They were his wife and father-in-law. His Web site was mainly a mission statement, and his mission statement had grammatical errors. And, after Paul missed a filing deadline in 2000, the state legally dissolved his board. Although Paul kept it operating, it remained unrecognized by the state until he officially revived it in 2005.

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How Rand Paul tried to lead an eye doctors rebellion

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R), a likely 2016 presidential candidate and a certified physician, weighed in on the vaccination debate Monday by asserting that he believes most vaccines should be voluntary.

"I'm not anti-vaccine at all but...most of them ought to be voluntary, Paul told Laura Ingraham on her radio show Monday. "I think there are times in which there can be some rules but for the most part it ought to be voluntary.

Pauls comments followa minor controversyMonday stirred by remarks by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R)another potential 2016 candidatein which he called for balance in vaccination requirements in order to allow for parental discretion. The Republican governor walked back his comments several hours later.

"The Governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated," Christie's office said in a statement.

[RELATED: Christie clarifies comments on measles vaccine]

A nationwide measles outbreak has transformed mandatory vaccination practices into a potent political issue. Medical professionals attribute the outbreak to increasing vaccination skepticism and have urged parents to vaccinate their children. On Sunday, President Obama weighed in, saying"there is every reason to get vaccinated there arent reasons to not."

Paul's comments were distributed online by the Democratic National Committee Monday.

Paul pointed to a 2007effort by then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), who is also considering a 2016 run for the Republican nomination, that would have required young girls to receive a vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV). That move was sharply attacked by social conservatives who said requiring vaccination against HPV, which is a sexually transmitted disease,would encourage promiscuity. The Texas legislature eventually overturned the mandate. Perry later called the order a mistake.

While I think its a good idea to take the vaccine, I think thats a personal decision for individuals to take, Paul said, attempting to strike a balance between responsible medical protocols and personal choice.

Paul went on to mention that he was frustrated when doctors suggested his son be vaccinated for Hepatitis B, which he said made him uncomfortable as a parent.

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Rand Paul, M.D., says most vaccines should be voluntary

TIME Health Infectious Disease Rand Paul Says Most Vaccinations Ought to Be Voluntary "I think there are times in which there can be some rules, but for the first part it ought to be voluntary"

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul waded into an increasingly contentious debate over enforced vaccinations on Monday, saying in a radio interview that inoculating children ought to be voluntary.

Im not anti-vaccine at all, the libertarian Republican said Monday, during an interview with talk radio host Laura Ingraham, but particularly, most of them ought to be voluntary. What happens if you have somebody not wanting to take the smallpox vaccine and it ruins it for everybody else? I think there are times in which there can be some rules, but for the first part it ought to be voluntary.

Democratic opponents quickly posted the comments to YouTube.

The comments come amid a growing furor over New Jersey Governor Chris Christies suggestion that states should balance laws on vaccination against a parents right to choose. He walked back the remarks Monday amid a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that cases of the measles had spread to 14 states.

Paul walked a similarly fine line, noting that while some vaccines were essential to public health, decisions over timing and dosage should be left open to parents.

Its not only Republicans like Christie and Paul who have found vaccine messaging tricky. President Obama, who urged parents over the weekend to vaccinate their children, previously said that he harbored suspicions about the (long debunked) link between autism and vaccines.

Weve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that its connected to the vaccines, he said in 2008, this person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it.

[Bloomberg News].

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Rand Paul Says Most Vaccinations Ought to Be Voluntary