And he's off: Rand Paul preps for April announcement

[tsai3904]

And he's off: Rand Paul preps for April announcement

BY Sam Youngman

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul isn't waiting for the Kentucky Derby to shoot out of the starting gate.

Next month — the day after the NCAA championship game — Paul plans to announce that he is running for president in front of hundreds of supporters at Louisville's Galt House.

While Paul's team stressed that the senator might still decide against running for president, they confirmed the planned April 7 launch date, which was originally reported by The New York Times, and said invitations to the event have already been sent to supporters and Republican officials.

The event will prominently feature Kentucky in an effort to capture the historic nature of the announcement for the state. That also dovetails with the desire of Paul's budding campaign team to build a sense of state pride around his candidacy, building a foundation for the senator's presidential campaign and keeping his approval numbers aloft as he tries to run for re-election to his Senate seat simultaneously in 2016.

...

More:
http://www.kentucky.com/2015/03/17/3752245_and-hes-off-rand-paul-preps-for.html

[Matt Collins]

As reported on Kentucky.com --





U.S. Sen. Rand Paul isn't waiting for the Kentucky Derby to shoot out of the starting gate.

Next month — the day after the NCAA championship game — Paul plans to announce that he is running for president in front of hundreds of supporters at Louisville's Galt House.

While Paul's team stressed that the senator might still decide against running for president, they confirmed the planned April 7 launch date, which was originally reported by The New York Times, and said invitations to the event have already been sent to supporters and Republican officials.

The event will prominently feature Kentucky in an effort to capture the historic nature of the announcement for the state. That also dovetails with the desire of Paul's budding campaign team to build a sense of state pride around his candidacy, building a foundation for the senator's presidential campaign and keeping his approval numbers aloft as he tries to run for re-election to his Senate seat simultaneously in 2016.

Following the announcement, Paul will leave Louisville to embark on a nearly week-long trip to the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, with fundraising stops and grassroots rallies in a handful of other states along the way. Paul has traveled extensively to the early states already, including a return trip to New Hampshire this weekend.

As the Times and others have noted, Paul's early-April announcement coincides with the next U.S. Senate recess and allows the senator to enter the race at the start of a fundraising cycle, giving him a full quarter of raising money before he files his first campaign finance report.




SOURCE:
http://www.kentucky.com/2015/03/17/3752245_and-hes-off-rand-paul-preps-for.html?rh=1 (http://www.kentucky.com/2015/03/17/3752245_and-hes-off-rand-paul-preps-for.html?rh=1)

[dannno]

Paul plans to announce that he is running for president in front of hundreds of supporters at Louisville's Galt House.

Hopefully more.

[Sola_Fide]

I'll be there. Am I going to see anyone else?

[idiom]

Hopefully more.

This is the sort of thing that would be epic as stadium event.

[Matt Collins]

I'll be there in person. :D

[JK/SEA]

I'll be there in person. :D

announcing that could hurt Rands chances.....

:D

[NoOneButPaul]

I dont think there's any doubt he'll do well in Iowa, NH, and Nevada. I think the bigger issue here is how he's going to deal with the South especially if Graham and Bush are there cleaning up in SC and FLA.

[orenbus]

IMO, the race will depend on Iowa, NH and whether he can break 20% nationally.

[JK/SEA]

he's going to need an endorsement from Mitt and McWar to get anywhere...

[Inkblots]

he's going to need an endorsement from Mitt and McWar to get anywhere...

The funny thing is, a Romney endorsement would almost be possible. Romney's basically a technocrat without a strong foreign policy of his own, so Rand's "conservative realism" probably isn't a negative with him like it is for a lot of party insiders, and Rand and Ron both dealt with him fairly in 2012.

Sadly, Romney is very much a Wall Street Republican, and he would never endorse Rand because he's the face of the Audit the Fed movement.

[William Tell]

Go Rand!

[Sola_Fide]

I'll be there in person. :D

I'll say hi when I see you there Matt. Maybe I could even get a picture with the collins.

[CaptUSA]

"Galt" house? You know the media is going to run with that!

[Vanguard101]

http://media.giphy.com/media/Jcdcc5WxZYjkc/giphy.gif

[PatriotOne]

Flak jacket - check
Bulletproof vest - check
Paypal account - check
Witty banter - check
Brick wall to beat head against - check

I'm ready. Bring it Rand.

[Gage]

Amazing!

[philipped]

http://media.giphy.com/media/Jcdcc5WxZYjkc/giphy.gif

TURN UP 4 RAND 2016!

[Keith and stuff]

I dont think there's any doubt he'll do well in Iowa, NH, and Nevada. I think the bigger issue here is how he's going to deal with the South especially if Graham and Bush are there cleaning up in SC and FLA.

Hopefully he can beat most of the candidates not from those states, in those states. If Graham gets 30% in SC, hopefully a lot of those voters were RINOs that would have voted for Bush.

[mz10]

Hopefully he can beat most of the candidates not from those states, in those states. If Graham gets 30% in SC, hopefully a lot of those voters were RINOs that would have voted for Bush.

Graham getting 30% in SC would be just fine. He's not a serious national candidate. That would be no different than Gingrich winning SC in 2012 - completely irrelevant.

[NoOneButPaul]

"Galt" house? You know the media is going to run with that!

We aren't going to be able to control those goons at all. It will be Ron all over again. Just have to do our best to combat it.

Can't believe it's been 4 years... for that matter I can't believe it's been 8 years.

[Galileo Galilei]

I will be there.

[TheTexan]

I'll be there in person. :D

And now the oppo knows...

[Galileo Galilei]

I will be staying at the Galt Hotel for this Monday and Tuesday night.

[randroots]

Bloomberg Politics Confirms Rand Paul to Announce Presidential Candidacy on April 7th, 2015 (http://randpaul.press/bpolitics-confirms-rand-paul-to-announce-presidential-candidacy-on-april-7th-2015/)

They re-confirm the date at 22:15 in the video, in a sort of conceited-fashion, nevertheless a significant source given Mark & Weigel have been invited to cover the event.

[georgiaboy]

"day after NCAA Championship"

For those who haven't been following, the University of Kentucky Wildcats are heavy favorites to win that basketball game, making history by having a perfect undefeated season.

I expect Rand's team is fully aware of this and making plans accordingly.

Could create interesting dynamics, especially for a Duke fan announcing from Louisville - home to UK's in-state rival.

[Jeremy]

Amazing!

Amazing. Amazing numbers.

[kbs021]

Rand is trending right now according to facebook due this leaking information. Go out and spread the word while it's hot.

[Crashland]

It will be nice for it to finally be official.

[randroots]

The NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/us/politics/rand-paul-has-voters-ears-but-the-challenge-is-their-hearts.html?_r=0) also broke the announcement date story in an article yesterday contextualizing Rand's SXSW event tour within the broader arc of the primary calendar // outreach to key constituencies.
"Rand Paul Is Capturing an Audience; the Challenge Is Winning Votes" (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/us/politics/rand-paul-has-voters-ears-but-the-challenge-is-their-hearts.html?_r=0)By JEREMY W. PETERS, MARCH 16, 2015

Mr. Paul and his advisers have set a tentative date of April 7 to announce the campaign so they can take advantage of the second-quarter fund-raising calendar, which begins on April 1. Mr. Paul, like other prospective Republican candidates, has found that potential donors are reluctant to give to him until he formally declares a candidacy.
Barring any last-minute objections from his wife, Kelley, and three sons, he is expected to move forward. On Sunday at South by Southwest, an interviewer asked what could keep him out of the race. He did not have to think very long about the answer. “My wife,” he said, looking out at a sea of plaid shirts. His persuasion efforts, he said to a burst of laughter, are “a work in progress.”The same could be said of his outreach to voters. For the better part of two years, Mr. Paul has had a foot in two very different worlds: the conservative camp, which will factor heavily in deciding the Republican nominee, and constituencies that do not usually vote Republican, like African-Americans and the technology entrepreneurs who flocked here for the festival.
His schedule over the last week showed just how unusual Mr. Paul is for a Republican who wants to be president. He held a news conference with two Democrats — Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York — to push for the legalization of medical marijuana (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/m/marijuana/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier). He spoke at Bowie State University, a historically black college in Maryland, criticizing a criminal justice system that he said was unfair and un-American in its treatment of blacks.
And he ended his visit to Austin by cutting the ribbon on a campaign office that will serve as the hub for what his strategists envision as the first crowdsourced presidential campaign, soliciting ideas from supporters across the country. Basing the office in a liberal bastion in a very conservative state was not accidental.
But what Mr. Paul has to be mindful of, Republicans said, is what he does after the applause dies down.
“Republicans always make the mistake of thinking, ‘This cycle we’re going to get the vote; this cycle is going to be different,’ ” said Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. “They fail to realize that you have to build the relationship. You don’t just walk in and say, ‘Hi, love me.’”
And parts of Mr. Paul’s ideology seem incompatible with the views of many of the new voters he is courting. He opposes same-sex marriage (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), for instance. And on Sunday he offered one way he would explain himself on the subject, insisting that his beliefs on marriage are not central to who he is as a politician. “I’m not a crusader on social issues,” he said in the interview.
Asked during his town hall meeting in the airy loft that Twitter rented for the festival how he could appeal to such disparate groups of voters, he smiled and said, “Very carefully.”

[randroots]

CBS reports the same facts but puts a finer emphasis on the significance of the April date.
(http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rand-paul-sets-presidential-announcement-date/)
Paul's announcement date enables him to begin his official run for the presidency at the beginning of a fundraising quarter. This will maximize the time he'll have to raise money before his first report is due to the Federal Election Commission. As a declared candidate, his finances will be filed and publicly available each quarter, and part of the success of his candidacy will be measured by the money he raises.

Perhaps, I think our community would be well served, esp. those Crowdfunding & Moneybombing, to keep these dates in mind. Some people seemed - and justifiedly so - somewhat anxious about our ability to execute the fundraising effort judging from our current progress measured against the pressing timeframe.

In my opinion, by all means should we use Tax Day as an opportunity to spread the message of liberty from Big Government/17% flat tax / Debt Crisis - but do we really want to // think we'll be successful if we ask people to give more money to Washington, D.C. - despite the exceptional character of this particular politician - immediately after they're IRS shakedown for their Tax return?

Given that most of the journalists on the Cam.Fin. will be out of sync w/ their workflow, e.g. they'll be publishing their stories on findings based on the previous quarter's disclosures not doing primary sourcing of new stories & the fact that donors may not be particularly receptive t o ur calls to action, though many core, committed members are eager to donate as soon as its officially legal, do you think we should pivot or iterate on the original plan.

What if we illustrated the enormity of difference that separates an Obama/Lerner IRS from the fiscal conservatism of a Rand Pal Presidency by creating web app that calculated how much money you would personally save under Rand Paul's tax plan vs. what the returns you filed under Obama - basically its just a petition indicating your support for a lower, simpler, flatter tax ( if not the abolition of the income tax altogether) but the user experience is more interactive, no auto-filled forms and personalized/individualized I don't have to imagine in the abstract what life would be like under the Paul administration, I can look at the difference vis-a-vis a concrete, black and white representation - my pocketbook.

Thoughts?
Someone, please feel free to tell me why this line of reasoning is wrongheaded or hit close to home.

[RabbitMan]

What if we illustrated the enormity of difference that separates an Obama/Lerner IRS from the fiscal conservatism of a Rand Pal Presidency by creating web app that calculated how much money you would personally save under Rand Paul's tax plan vs. what the returns you filed under Obama - basically its just a petition indicating your support for a lower, simpler, flatter tax ( if not the abolition of the income tax altogether) but the user experience is more interactive, no auto-filled forms and personalized/individualized I don't have to imagine in the abstract what life would be like under the Paul administration, I can look at the difference vis-a-vis a concrete, black and white representation - my pocketbook.

Thoughts?
Someone, please feel free to tell me why this line of reasoning is wrongheaded or hit close to home.

That is....a really interesting idea. I like it. When is he supposed to reveal his big tax plan/biggest tax cut in history thing anyway?

[ross11988]

During the announcement would be perfect I would think

[willwash]

I'll be there in person. :D

Oh, we'll all be sure to shut up then and let the grown ups handle things.

[devil21]

Another article on next month's announcement:

http://news.yahoo.com/republican-rand-paul-enter-2016-presidential-race-next-210020108.html


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Rand Paul will declare his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on April 7, MSNBC reported, citing multiple sources inside the Kentucky lawmaker's camp.

"This will be an official announcement, not an exploratory committee," MSNBC quoted an unnamed source close to Paul as saying. The network said the announcement would take place in Louisville, Kentucky. more if click