Younger Paul to father: After you

By SHIRA SCHOENBERG

Monitor staff

Last modified: 4/29/2011 12:00:00 AM

Only one member of the Paul family will run for president in 2012, and it will likely be the elder.



Two days after Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul set up an exploratory committee to run for president in 2012, his son, Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said he does not anticipate running.



"I always promised I wouldn't run against him," Rand Paul told the Monitor before a breakfast fundraiser for the Merrimack County Republican Committee at the Holiday Inn in Concord. "It's bad for the household."



Rand Paul said the fact that his father set up an exploratory committee means Ron Paul, who also ran for president in 2008, is "pretty serious" about running.



The father and son live together in Washington, D.C., and Rand Paul quipped, "Running against your landlord is not a good thing." Asked whether that meant he had decided definitively not to run, Paul replied, "not against him."



Paul, an ophthalmologist and first-term senator, has become a leader in the national Tea Party movement. He is traveling to promote his book The Tea Party Goes to Washington. Paul has said he would consider a presidential run if his father chose not to campaign.



Rand Paul made several trips to New Hampshire in 2007-08 stumping for his father's campaign. This is his first to the state this election cycle.



On Wednesday, Paul attended a fundraiser for Republican state Sen. Jim Forsythe in Gilford. Yesterday, he spoke to about 70 people at the $25-a-head Concord breakfast, then planned to speak at the Cheshire County Republicans' Lincoln Day Dinner. Today, he will speak at a breakfast at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College.



Paul's remarks in Concord focused on the need to cut spending and shrink government. Paul said the recent showdown in Congress over the 2011 budget - which nearly shut down the federal government and resulted in $38 billion in spending cuts - did not go far enough in reducing the $3.8 trillion federal budget.



"2011 will be an all-time record for spending," Paul said.



Paul said any solution to address the state's soaring debt must involve cuts to both domestic and military spending and must reform entitlement programs.



"If we don't touch entitlements, we can't balance the budget," Paul said.



On entitlements, Paul focused on Social Security. Paul said he would gradually raise the retirement age to 70, but only for people who are currently under 55. He would also lower the benefits for people who have higher incomes. Paul acknowledged that wealthy people have paid into the system but said the money is not there to support everyone who has paid in.



"The only way to get your (contribution) back is by taxing the next generation," he said.



On military spending, Paul said he would close some military bases. Paul also criticized President Obama for using military force without congressional approval.



"We went into Libya without constitutional authority, without a congressional vote," Paul said. "(Obama) had enough time to go to NATO, the U.N., the Arab League . . . but he didn't have time to go one mile to Capitol Hill, to Congress, for our approval."



Paul has released his own plan for balancing the budget in five years - which includes eliminating the Departments of Education, Energy, part of Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development, and returning many of those responsibilities to the states.



Paul said his plan would have a more immediate impact than a plan proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, that would balance the budget by 2040.



"If you don't balance it in your lifetime, it's too long," Paul said.



Paul criticized both Democrats and Republicans for not cutting spending and said voters must choose a Republican presidential candidate committed to shrinking government.



"I'd like to see a presidential candidate say we're going to get rid of mandates on food stamps, Medicaid, education," he said.



In his remarks and in an interview with reporters, Paul left little doubt as to which candidate he supports - his father - and which he most dislikes - real estate mogul Donald Trump. Trump, who visited New Hampshire on Wednesday, has questioned whether Obama was born in the United States - and is now claiming responsibility for persuading Obama to release his long-form birth certificate.



"I want to see the original long-form certificate, with the seal, of Donald Trump's Republican registration," Paul said.



Paul said Trump gave $4,800 to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, in the last election cycle and has also given $24,000 to New York Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel. Trump last contributed to Rangel in 2006.



Paul said he believes the only reason Trump is succeeding in polls is that he has name recognition. Paul called Trump "an entertainer who knows how to get attention."



In contrast, Paul said his father, who visited New Hampshire in March and April, would appeal to young people as someone who is not swayed by political correctness and will "address problems head on."



Many attendees said they had not decided whom to support in the presidential primary, and several had committed to other candidates. But a few said they liked Rand Paul and would consider supporting Ron Paul - noting that father and son have similar ideologies.



Kevin Bloom, a Concord brewery consultant, said Rand Paul "is one of the few people addressing some issues that are important to me as a libertarian Republican." Bloom said he believes in the need to cut defense spending. He said he opposes "undeclared wars" that don't have congressional approval.



Bloom also has a history with the Paul family.



"I campaigned for Ron Paul in 2007, and I expect to do it again," Bloom said. "It's a good ideological fit."



(Shira Schoenberg can be reached at 369-3319 or sschoenberg@cmonitor.com.)





