Joseph Gerth

@Joe_Gerth

It looks as if U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is giving up hope that the Kentucky General Assembly will change state law so that he can run for both re-election to the U.S. Senate and for president in 2016.

Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, who sponsored a bill that would have changed the law last year, said that Paul told him not to bother with sponsoring the legislation again after the Democrats held on to the Kentucky House of Representatives in last month's election.

"I spoke with Sen. Paul ... and he thanked me and our caucus support, but he told me that he was not going to pursue that route this session, but he is looking into other options that will not require our help," Thayer said in a recent interview.

Thayer said that Paul is giving up hope because House Speaker Greg Stumbo has indicated that Democrats in the House wouldn't pass such a bill. "There's no doubt that Greg Stumbo would continue to be a roadblock," said Thayer, a Georgetown Republican.

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That leaves Paul looking for any number of solutions to a problem that could cost him his Senate seat or Kentucky's delegates to the Republican National Convention, which will meet in Cleveland during the summer of 2016 to choose a presidential nominee.

Doug Stafford, an adviser to Paul, however, said that despite what Thayer said, Paul isn't ruling anything out.

But for some time, Paul has been looking at a series of options to deal with a state law that prohibits candidates from appearing on the ballot more than once, in most cases.

Stafford wouldn't go into detail on those options, but they include moving from a presidential primary to a caucus election to choose Kentucky's Republican presidential nominee, simply not running for the presidency in Kentucky's 2016 primary election, and going to court and getting a court order that would allow him on the ballot in both races.

Ultimately, he may wind up in court, no matter what happens.

Republicans don't seem completely sold on the caucus system at this point, in part because there has been no formal proposal and even less of a vetting. But it has sparked interest among some Republicans who are tired of Kentucky voters having little say in whom the party chooses for its presidential nominee since Kentucky is traditionally one of the last states to hold primary elections.

"If we move up (on the calendar), we become more relevant," said former Jefferson County GOP Chairman Jack Richardson, who as a member of the party's central executive committee would have a vote in establishing a caucus.

State party chairman Steve Roberts said it's far too early to make a decision since so little is known about a caucus system as it relates to cost and how it would be held. If a formal proposal is made, the committee would look closely at the issue, he said.

State Sen. Sara Beth Gregory, also a member of the central executive committee, agreed that there are too many unanswered questions at this point but hopes to get answers as the discussion moves forward.

"I'm not personally very familiar with the caucus system and how it works, but I'm open to considering it," she said.

Gregory said her biggest concern is whether it would limit voters' ability to participate in selecting a presidential nominee. In a primary election, voters can cast ballots at any time over a 12-hour period on Election Day. In a caucus system, the voting often takes more time but is conducted over a shorter period.

"I would want to make sure it gives all of our voters access to the polls," she said.

Furthermore, in a primary, the state pays for opening the polls and tabulating votes. In a caucus, the party would bear that cost. "It's something people have heard about and begun to think about," Gregory said. "But there are logistical issues that have to be figured out."

And even if the state party does go with a caucus, or if Paul simply chooses not to run in a presidential primary in Kentucky, it wouldn't solve Paul's problem in November if he were to win the presidential nomination.

State law prohibits a candidate from appearing twice on the ballot in most cases. Another law doesn't allow political parties to replace candidates on the ballot after a primary election unless the candidate dies, is disqualified from holding the office or becomes disabled.

That means that without a change in the law or a court order striking the law down, if Paul won the presidential nomination and the nomination for his Senate seat, he would have to resign the Senate nomination, which would then leave the GOP without a Senate nominee.

Paul's advisers argue that the state law can't apply to federal elections because the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995 ruled in a case involving term limits that states couldn't place additional requirements on candidates for federal office beyond what is in the U.S. Constitution. While that may be so, no court has ever ruled that Kentucky law violates the Constitution, and last week Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said that Paul would have to go to court to get on the ballot twice.

Richardson said that's exactly what Paul needs to do and that Grimes' statement opened the door for such a suit. "Grimes has already handed us a great issue. ... She's already set the case up and ripened (the issue) for us," he said.

Reporter Joseph Gerth can be reached at (502) 582-4702.