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jct74
05-31-2014, 01:25 AM
Rand Paul bets his future on redefining the political center

BY REBECCA BERG | MAY 23, 2014 | 5:00 AM

Rand Paul didn't need to explain himself.

In May 2010, the small crowd assembled at a country club in Paul's hometown of Bowling Green, Ky., was already sold. Paul had just posted a commanding, unlikely victory in the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, marking an important, legitimizing moment for the national Tea Party movement.

But on this night of triumph, Paul wanted to make sure that his audience of true believers understood that his platform was not on the fringe of American politics.

“The Tea Party message is not a radical message. It’s not an extreme message,” Paul said. “What is extreme is a $2 trillion deficit. That’s what’s extreme. The Tea Party message calls for things that are widely popular among Republicans, Democrats and Independents.”

Just look at the polls, Paul said. Most Americans support term limits or mandating that Congress balance the federal budget.

Paul was not challenging anyone to cross party lines to support him, but emphasizing post-partisan points of overlap. Harnessed though he was with the “Tea Party” label, Paul was speaking to the center.

As Paul now looks toward a potential bid for president in 2016, he is still struggling to shake the notion, held by many powerful Republicans and average Americans, that he is outside the political mainstream. The word “transformative” is thrown around regularly by Paul's allies as they envision what shape his presidential bid could take: Paul doesn't have to change, the subtext reads; it is the Republican Party that must evolve and expand to accommodate his vision.

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http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2548770