Paul’s Prickly First Day as a Presidential Candidate

“Less than 24 hours after Rand Paul announced his White House bid before hundreds of jubilant, flag-waving supporters, his fledgling presidential campaign seemed to be defined more by his defiant performance when the cheering stopped,” the Washington Post reports.

“In a series of interviews after the freshman senator from Kentucky declared his candidacy on Tuesday, Paul turned prickly — briskly sidestepping tough foreign policy questions from one journalist, lecturing another on how to conduct an interview, and testily declining to clarify his position on abortion. And so, as Paul’s first full day of campaigning drew to a close, the narrative surrounding his campaign came straight from the candidate. It just wasn’t one he’d chosen himself.”

New York Times: “It is an incarnation of the senator that has appeared occasionally since Mr. Paul first sprang onto the national political scene in 2010 — most often when he has been confronted about shifts in his views over time or about a statement he has made that has created a media maelstrom.”

Wonk Wire: A rise in Libertarians to support Paul?