Politico: “The Kentucky GOP’s central committee voted Saturday to adopt a presidential caucus system next year, clearing the way Republican Sen. Rand Paul to run for president and reelection at the same time.” It’s costing [mc_name name=’Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’P000603′ ] $500K to do this – he’s agreed to cover the costs of the Kentucky GOP running a caucus instead of a primary – but apparently the first-term Senator thinks that it’s worth it. Certainly Senate Majority Leader [mc_name name=’Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’M000355′ ] does, too.

This, by the way, is supposed to be a one-time affair; the Kentucky GOP will revert back to a primary in 2020, unless of course another Kentucky Republican is simultaneously running for President and a state/federal office that year. As to the merits of doing this this way… well, I’m not from Kentucky. I have no strong emotional connection to either the original law, or the way that this new tactic is being used to legally circumvent it.  I do admit to enjoying the sight of Secretary of State Alison Grimes visibly grind her teeth at the way that her last long-shot chance at getting a Senate seat has just evaporated, but that’s just me being a partisan Republican hack.

I also decline to speculate what this means for Sen. Paul’s long-term Presidential chances, although Politico certainly wasn’t shy about doing so. Truthfully, it’s more than a little early to declare that anybody is or is not in this race for the long haul. It’s still more than fourteen months to the election, and more than six to the first primaries. Trying to rush the process will produce nothing except self-annoyance…

Moe Lane (crosspost)