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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