Rand Paul camp cancels Meet the Press because "he's had a long week"

Betsy Fischer, the executive producer of Meet the Press, just Tweeted that Rand Paul is trying to cancel his appearance on the show this Sunday.

I just reached Fischer, and she tells me Paul's camp asked to cancel because "he's had a long week."

"He committed to coming on on Wednesday," Fischer tells me. "We got an email from his press secretary this afternoon saying that he wanted to cancel."

Fischer adds that the Meet crew asked to talk directly to Paul himself to ask him to reconsider, but he has yet to call back. "We're still waiting," she says.

Asked what reason the Paul camp gave for canceling, Fischer says the Meet crew was told "that he's had a long week, he's tired, and he's very sorry and he needs to cancel."

"We tried to impress upon them that this is a big deal," Fischer continues. "The only other two people to cancel have been Louis Farrakhan and Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia."

"Obviously they've had a tough week -- we all know that," Fischer says of the Paul camp. "I hope he'll reconsider and keep his commitment."

