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Washington Is Rand Paul OK with voter ID laws, or not?

That question comes up because Senator Paul (R) of Kentucky kind of straddled the issue when he talked about it on Sundays talk shows.

On CBSs Face the Nation, for example, Bob Schieffer asked Paul whether he supported Republican-backed efforts to require voters to show picture identification in many states.

In reply, Paul said, I have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, said Paul, he has to show his drivers license if he wants to go into the Justice Department and see Attorney General Eric Holder. (Does he do this a lot? That would be an entertaining meeting to watch.)

On the other hand, African-Americans claim voter ID laws are mainly an effort to suppress their vote, which is largely Democratic. And Paul thinks the GOP needs to reach out to minorities if it is to win back the White House. He urges combining voter ID with moves to expand voting rights, such as legislation to restore voting rights to felons.

So Im not really opposed to [voter ID]. I am opposed to it as a campaign theme, said Kentuckys junior senator.

In other words, he supports voter ID, but doesnt want to talk about it. Thats the way Democrats saw it anyway, and many of them claimed Pauls response showed he is willing to remake himself to appeal to core Republican voters in advance of the 2016 presidential race.

If rhetoric mattered more than policy, Rand Pauls posture would represent real progress. But for those trying to overcome indefensible voting restrictions, created by Republicans for the most brazen and undemocratic of reasons, the senators interest in a tonal shift is literally meaningless, writes Steve Benen on the left-leaning blog of NBCs Rachel Maddow Show.

Many on the right arent any happier about Pauls way of handling the issue. They point out that voter ID laws are generally popular with the public, as shown by poll results, and that theyre necessary to combat what they see as the widespread problem of voter fraud. This has proved a popular GOP talking point but Democrats and many independent analysts argue that studies have shown negligible levels of voter fraud.

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Does Rand Paul support voter ID laws, or not? (+video)