Rand Paul Camp Dismisses Report On Pro-Paul Super PAC Going Dark

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at a presidential forum sponsored by Heritage Action at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Richard Shiro)
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Sen. Rand Paul’s 2016 campaign is disputing the notion that a super PAC pulling its support will have any lasting effect, with a campaign spokesman saying the PAC didn’t “lift a finger” to help the candidate in the first place.

“It is untruthful for a story to say that this Super PAC stopped supporting Senator Paul, when in fact they don’t seem to have lifted a finger in the first place,” Paul spokesman Sergio Gor said in a statement provided to TPM.

He was reacting to a Politico report Tuesday that Purple PAC, a super PAC helmed by Cato Institute co-founder Ed Crane, was yanking material support for the Kentucky senator for abandoning his libertarian ideals. In that story, Crane called the campaign a “futile crusade” and said he wants to “grab Rand by the lapels” to get him back on track.

The report was another blow to a struggling campaign. Recent polling has Paul hovering around 3 percent support nationally.

Purple PAC announced it had fundraised $1.2 million in July, the vast majority of which came from a single donor, the Philadelphia options trader Jeff Yass.

The Hill reported Wednesday that Purple PAC only spent $7,404.98 in its mid-year 2015 campaign report, with $6,500 in spending going to “logo design services.” No new expenditures were reported between July 1 and Sept. 29.

Two other super PACs explicitly backing Paul have spent into six and seven figures since July 1, with Concerned American Voters dropping more than $1.5 million on organizing, robocalls, and campaign materials for Paul, and America’s Liberty PAC spending about $500,000 on TV ads.

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  1. Avatar for imkmu3 imkmu3 says:

    Shorter: They weren’t part of my money train anyway.

  2. keeping it real and staying delusional to the end…

  3. He’ll be free to concentrate on keeping his day job.

  4. you mean as a self satisfied eye care specialist?

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