The battle for the GOP presidential nomination is already heating up as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul launched an ad attacking former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush just hours after Bush had announced his growing interest in a White House candidacy.
The digital ad from Paul’s political action committee, RandPAC, which pops up on a Google search for Bush’s name, takes a clear jab at the more moderate Republican, according to Time.
"Join a movement working to shrink government, not grow it," the ad states, with links to RandPAC, his federal leadership committee, and a page urging supporters to give their email address and ZIP code to "Stand With Rand."
Later on Tuesday, RandPAC added a second ad slamming Bush’s support for the Common Core education standards.
"We need leaders who will stand against Common Core," the Google search ad stated, which also had a link to Paul’s political action committee, Time reported.
Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican who is expected to announce his presidential candidacy within weeks, recently hired Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s leading digital operative, Vincent Harris.
The senators are also expected to be
battling it out in two years during the GOP primaries, and the move to grab Harris from his potential rival was seen as part of the "jostling" for staff ahead of the contest.
On Tuesday night, Paul launched his first verbal volley against Bush in the race for the Oval Office when he told Fox News that Bush’s support of Common Core will make it "very, very difficult" for him to become the next president.
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The accompanying RandPAC ad tag line — which ran as Paul made his Fox appearance — read, "We need leaders who will stand against Common Core," according to
Politico.
Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are the only likely Republican candidates for 2016 who currently back the
Common Core standard testing for students.
Politico’s Stephanie Simon says Bush’s support for the initiative could come back to bite him during a presidential campaign.
"The standards have become synonymous with federal overreach, over-testing and confusing math problems, a ripe target for comedians' jokes and parents' protests," Simon writes.
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