Thursday, March 12, 2015

Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell Forge an Unlikely Partnership

When Rand Paul first ran for the Senate, he faced a powerful home-state antagonist in Sen. Mitch McConnell. Now, as Mr. Paul prepares to run for president, a five-year effort to bury the hatchet has forged an odd-couple partnership that is an unseen force in both the 2016 presidential campaign and the U.S. Senate.
Mr. Paul used his clout among conservatives to help Mr. McConnell, his fellow Kentucky Republican, win re-election last year and fulfill a long-held goal of becoming Senate majority leader.
Now Mr. McConnell is helping to advance Mr. Paul’s presidential campaign, and contributed to an important victory for him Saturday. The state GOP’s executive committee endorsed Mr. Paul’s request, backed by Mr. McConnell, to establish a presidential caucus, despite concerns about financial and political costs. This would allow Mr. Paul to circumvent state law that bars him from appearing on the primary ballot both for the White House and re-election to the Senate.
“I thought it was important to show my support,’’ Mr. McConnell said in an interview. “We’ve developed over the last four years a very close and good working relationship.”
Political couples don’t get much odder. Mr. Paul is a maverick and tea-party champion who last year derided “Chamber of Commerce” Republicans. The disciplined, buttoned-up Mr. McConnell is beloved by that business group, whose Kentucky chapter last month held a banquet to honor him.
Mr. Paul, a physician with a libertarian streak, has said that—although he believes vaccination is a good thing—parents should have the freedom to not vaccinate their children. For Mr. McConnell, a polio victim as a child, vaccination is a no-brainer. On foreign policy, Mr. McConnell is a hawk; Mr. Paul, about as dovish as any Republican in the Senate.
“Sen. McConnell and I are not exactly alike: He’s a little more Henry Clay, and sometimes I’m a little more Cassius Clay,” Mr. Paul said recently, referring to the 19th century U.S. statesman known as the “Great Compromiser” and his cousin, an uncompromising abolitionist.
Read the rest of the story HERE.


If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.


No comments: