A Kentucky senator in the United State, Senator Rand Paul has official declared that he will be running for president of the United States of America in 2016.
In his speech a rally in Louisville, Paul said: “today, I announce with God’s help, with the help of liberty lovers everywhere, that I’m putting myself forward as a candidate for president of the United States of America.”
Since riding the tea party wave into the Senate in 2010, Paul has carefully built a brand of mainstream libertarianism — dogged advocacy of civil liberties combined with an anti-interventionist foreign policy and general support for family values — that he bets will create a coalition of younger voters and traditional Republicans to usher him into the White House.
Paul immediately hit the campaign trail for a four-day through New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada — the states that traditionally vote first in the primaries and caucuses.
In his speech, he called for reforming Washington by pushing for term limits and a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. He argued that both parties are to blame for the rising debt, saying it doubled under a Republican administration and tripled under Obama.
“Government should be restrained and freedom should be maximized,” he said.
The line-up of speakers who introduced Paul sought to paint the senator as a nontraditional candidate with diverse appeal, and by the time he got on stage, he was the first white man to address the crowd.
The speakers included J.C. Watts, a former congressman who’s African-American; state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, who’s Hispanic; local pastor Jerry Stephenson, who’s African American and a former Democrat; and University of Kentucky student Lauren Bosler.
“He goes everywhere. It doesn’t matter what color you are. Rand Paul will be there,” Stephenson said, firing up the crowd.
So far, Paul joins only Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as a declared candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. “His entry into the race will no doubt raise the bar of competition,” Cruz said in a statement welcoming Paul into the race.
But the field is certain to grow in the months ahead with Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham and others eyeing a campaign. Marco Rubio, a Florida GOP senator, is expected to launch his campaign next week.
Bush, who said his 2016 decision is a “while off,” told reporters in Colorado Springs on Tuesday that “libertarianism definitely has a place in the GOP” but stressed that he differs with Paul on foreign policy.
For now, the nomination is up for grabs with no clear front-runner. Paul came in third place at 12% in a CNN/ORC International Poll of Republicans. Bush led the pack at 16% while Walker came in second at 13%.
Paul, the son of former Texas congressman and three-time presidential hopeful Ron Paul, will build on his father’s legacy as a candidate eager to bring civil liberties to the forefront of the national dialogue. He’s already used his perch on Capitol Hill to draw attention to those issues, including a 13-hour filibuster two years ago blasting the Obama administration’s drone policies and a lawsuit against the National Security Agency’s phone metadata collection effort.
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