Is Rand Paul's Balancing Act between Libertarians and Mainstream Republicans a Winning Strategy?

When tea-party activists rallied last weekend in Kentucky, their home-state hero, Sen. Rand Paul, wasn't invited. The event featured the tea-party candidate running for the Senate, while Mr. Paul is backing the incumbent, Sen. Mitch McConnell. 

But leaders of FreedomWorks, the conservative group that organized the rally, still view Mr. Paul as an ally. In February, he joined their lawsuit over government phone surveillance. "That makes clear his willingness to shake up the political establishment," said FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe.

That is just one example of the balancing act Mr. Paul is attempting as he prepares for a likely White House bid in 2016. Trying to leap from tea-party firebrand to GOP standard-bearer, the freshman senator is courting the party leaders and fundraisers crucial to a national campaign, while mostly keeping faith with the libertarian base that made him a Republican Party phenom.

A test comes on April 25, when Spencer Zwick, the national finance chairman for Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns, is slated to introduce top donors in Boston to Mr. Paul. While some fundraisers say Mr. Paul's resistance to the use of military force abroad disqualifies him from leading the GOP, others are intrigued by his efforts to grow the party by reaching out to young and minority audiences. 

Support from donors who backed Mr. Romney, a defense hawk, would provide more evidence that Republicans are coming to favor a more restrained U.S. military role. Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling this year shows that members of each party in nearly equal numbers would look less favorably, rather than more favorably, on a candidate who believes the U.S. should do more to resolve conflicts around the world.

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