RAND PAUL ABOUT TO ANNOUNCE – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:   Rand Paul is expected to announce of the presidency this week.  He's already giving us a preview of what a Paul campaign would look like.  From USA Today:

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is pitching himself as a "different kind of Republican" in a new video released ahead of his expected presidential campaign announcement on Tuesday.

The libertarian-minded conservative is set to formally enter the GOP presidential race during a rally in Louisville, Ky. Paul will join Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a rival for the support of hard-line conservatives, as official candidates in the 2016 race.

"To fix Washington, we can't have business as usual," says Paul, in a clip taken from his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February.

The nearly three-minute video was posted Sunday on Paul's website and YouTube channel.

The video highlights themes that Paul, first elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave, will incorporate in his campaign. His remarks from CPAC, where he won the presidential straw poll for a third straight year, are woven with positive comments from notable figures such as Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who ran for president in 2012, ex-national GOP chairman Michael Steele and even Jon Stewart of The Daily Show.

COMMENT:  As readers know, my enthusiasm for Rand Paul is limited.  Foreign policy is my first consideration, and Paul's views remind me a bit too much of the isolationism of the GOP of the 1930s.

I can't conceive of Paul getting the nomination, but I do welcome the challenge he will bring to other candidates. 

April 6, 2015