A piece in the U.S. News & World Report speculates the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tx., could pave the way for his son, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to run for the White House in the coming years.The article points out Congressman Paul came in second in the Iowa straw poll and is above 10 percent in two prominent polls, which it estimates might give Paul the younger a chance in a future presidential contest.From U.S. News & World Report:David Boaz, executive vice president at the libertarian Cato Institute...emphasizes that it is too early to know whether freshman Rand Paul will succeed in the Senate—he's been there less than a year—or what the political world will look like by 2016 or 2020.
But he suspects the younger Paul could have a better chance than the elder if he decides to dip his feet in a presidential race, particularly since he has already won a statewide campaign, while his father's wins so far have been in a relatively safe congressional district.
"People have a sense that Rand Paul has rounder edges than his father," Boaz says, adding that the younger Paul has picked his battles, focusing mostly on the deficit and federal spending. Like his father, he has advocated auditing the Federal Reserve, but the elder Paul has also called for an end to the Fed altogether. "He is going to be perceived as closer to the center of the Republican Party than his father has been."
Beyond the far-fetched analysis based on the transfer of the family name, the piece is at least anchored by an observation that while Kentucky's junior Senator is recognized as a principled Tea Party favorite, he hasn't proven to be an effective legislator yet.It notes that if the anti-government wave of the Tea Party continues to rise it's a possibility, but observers point out Sen. Paul has not mastered the maneuvers of the Senate in his freshman year either.