A very interesting name is emerging as a potential candidate for the Republican nomination in the Texas Senate race, where incumbent GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is retiring: Rep. Ron Paul, who built up a strong online donor base from his anti-war, minimal government presidential campaign in 2008.
As the Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday night:
“I’m just waiting and seeing what comes about, who files and what they do,” said Paul, R-Lake Jackson, a 75-year-old obstetrician who has run for president twice and made a Senate bid in 1984.
…
“It’s crossed my mind, but … I haven’t taken any active steps,” Paul said.
Paul son, freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), was asked about the report last night during an interview with John King on CNN. And he had a pretty funny response.
“Well the thing about it is, we have talked about the House and the Senate,” referring to their prior humorous public comments about which chamber was better.
“You know, if he comes over, I would actually have seniority on him. So then he would have listen more to my arguments. So far, he has some pretty strong opinions of his own. So we’ll see. I don’t know what his decision is, but I think he is thinking about it, but I don’t know really what his thoughts, conclusions are.”
The key moment occurs at just after the 5:40 mark below:
Ron Paul previously ran for Senate way back in the open-seat race of 1984, giving up his House seat at the time to ultimately lose the Republican primary against establishment-backed fellow Congressman Phil Gramm by a whopping 73%-16% margin. Paul then went on to be the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president in 1988, and later returned to the House as a Republican in the 1996 election, winning a GOP primary challenge against an incumbent who had just switched parties from the Democrats.
