If it wasn’t already clear the 2014 cycle had begun for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, last week made it crystal.

The Kentucky Republican — who does not yet have opponents in the primary or the general election — is playing some serious defense to guard against a siege from his right. And in a week that was supposed to be dominated by news of gun control and immigration bills, McConnell made splashes of his own on mostly unrelated political topics.

At the beginning of the week, his campaign turned over evidence to the FBI and capitalized on claims that Democratic opponents “bugged” his campaign operation. He then joined the conservative members of his conference in vowing to filibuster amendments on the pending gun background check legislation. And on Wednesday, he delivered a previously unreported speech to the National Urban League, parallel to the one his conference colleague and libertarian firebrand Rand Paul delivered at Howard University.

The very public moves are the political sprouts shooting from the seeds McConnell began sowing as early as 2010 when he began cultivating an uneasy alliance with Paul.

McConnell has shown a special deference to his freshman partner. He has held multiple votes on Paul’s amendments, even though many of them barely attract supporters in the double digits, sometimes at the expense of veteran lawmakers’ proposals. He has repeatedly been among only a handful of Republicans to vote for Paul’s budget alternative. He hired Paul’s 2010 campaign manager. And aides take frequent opportunities to link the two men.