As the thoroughbreds prepared for their two-minute run around the track at Churchill Downs on Saturday, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was making his way around the grounds with his prized guest, Rupert Murdoch.
The media mogul seemed comfortable with the six hours of betting, elbow-rubbing and mint juleps,
The New York Times reports.
Paul is expected to enter his own horse race in two years as the 2016 presidential election kicks in.
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The Times speculates that Paul's invitation to Murdoch might have been an attempt to woo him – and his media empire that includes Fox News and The Wall Street Journal – over to his side.
Paul's libertarian leanings and opposition to U.S. foreign intervention have made those conservative media giants skittish of the junior Kentucky senator. But Murdoch appeared to signal he was fine with Paul's courting, the Times noted.
"I’m very open minded," Murdoch said.
Paul invited Murdoch to the Derby a month ago. Murdoch said he had never been and was glad he accepted the invitation.
"It’s a good thing for me. He’s a very interesting man," Murdoch said.
While his words for Paul were only positive, Murdoch expressed reservations about the former GOP favorite, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
"He’ll be a very strong, fighting candidate in the primaries," he told the Times, "but there will be more and more stuff coming out, I think. Not him but, you know, on his aides. There will be more stories."
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