Rand Paul is out

Just in from the Rand Paul campaign: There is no longer a Rand Paul campaign.

Today, Dr. Rand Paul issued the following statement on his presidential campaign:

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"It's been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House. Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty. Across the country thousands upon thousands of young people flocked to our message of limited government, privacy, criminal justice reform and a reasonable foreign policy. Brushfires of Liberty were ignited, and those will carry on, as will I. Although, today I will suspend my campaign for President, the fight is far from over. I will continue to carry the torch for Liberty in the United States Senate and I look forward to earning the privilege to represent the people of Kentucky for another term."

The term "suspended" is a legal technicality so they can still raise money to pay off campaign debts. Paul's campaign is over. I like Rand Paul in the Senate, where he can be a useful and sometimes eloquent voice for limited government. He would have been a disaster as president, as his isolationist instincts would have given us a foreign policy not all that different from Obama's. President Paul might not have negotiated the Iran nuclear deal, but he would have little interest in standing up for America's broader interests across the globe. Likewise, I have little use for libertarians' hostility toward law enforcement or general paranoia. I am persuaded that Rand is not quite the paranoid crank his father is. I'm not persuaded that the difference is significant enough to matter. And judging from his performance thus far, it appears most primary voters agreed. By the way, discussing this a moment ago, Rob made a statement that I wholeheartedly agree with: Anyone who finished behind Carson in Iowa needs to pack it in. Now. UPDATE: Rob here to, as usual, disagree with Dan. Rand would have made a fine President, and I'm sorry I won't get the chance to vote for him. I'm not sure what these "isolationist instincts" are that Dan speaks of. Just because you're not a fan of never-ending, undeclared, and largely unconstitutional wars does not mean you're an isolationist. It just means you have a higher standard for intervention than the one we've been applying for the last 25 years. The real problem with Rand was the campaign he ran. Remember, I like the guy, but there's no way to deny the fact that what should have been a strong, loud, constitution-based run ended up feeling like a quiet, almost mousey, half-hearted effort. A big part of any campaign is finding ways to break through the chatter and FORCE the media to cover you and your positions. Saying you were shut out by the media machine is basically an admission that you, or your PR team, failed to win the marketing battle that draws eyeballs, and ultimately support, to your run. Rand is great in the Senate and, yes, he could have been a great President, too. He's young, so who knows? After a few more years in Congress perhaps he can re-emerge with a stronger team. I hope he tries again.