Rand Paul's nascent 2016 presidential campaign team draws from his inner circle, including his own Senate communications staff, as well as national political operatives and at least one pal who dates back to his college days at Baylor University,
The Washington Post reports.
Spinning the plates as campaign manager will be Chip Englander, whose recent track record, including getting Gov. Bruce Rauner elected as a Republican in Illinois, shines a light on his skills promoting change in a largely Democratic state.
Others include Rex Elsass, who will work as media consultant for Paul while Vincent Harris of Austin, Texas — fresh off his work helping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu get re-elected, no less — will helm Paul's digital operations.
Jesse Benton, who managed Paul's 2010 Senate campaign, is leading his PAC, while Nate Morris, a Republican business leader from Kentucky, is functioning as rainmaker, opening doors to key donors, the Post said.
College pal Steve Munisteri, who will serve as senior adviser, has a decades long connection with Paul. He founded the Young Conservatives of Texas, and Paul went on to lead Baylor University's chapter.
Adviser Chris LaCivita is a hard-balling political operative who has helped rescue campaigns in the past and has on his resume an unusual political factoid: "architect of the Swift Boat ads that questioned John Kerry's Vietnam service."
A.J. Spiker will head up Paul's Iowa efforts, while Mike Biundo will run his New England campaign outreach, the Post reported. The role of top political adviser goes to Doug Stafford, the Post said, adding that Stafford ran Paul's PAC since 2013 and later became his Senate chief of staff.
The one campaign outlier for Paul will be his father, political veteran and libertarian hero Ron Paul, whose role will be undefined but nonetheless "an inescapable presence on the campaign trail," the Post said.
Ahead of a formal announcement set for Louisville's Galt House Hotel on Tuesday, Paul made his candidacy official in a video released on his website that describes the Kentucky senator and physician as "one leader [who] will stand up to defeat the Washington machine and unleash the American dream,"
CNN reported.
It was an announcement that had been four years in the making, Politico said of Paul's ongoing White House ambitions, and "will prove one of the most anticlimactic presidential announcements of modern times."
Added Politico: "The Kentucky senator will be doing little more than dotting the final 'i' (as in, it's official) in a long-telegraphed campaign for the White House that began four years ago in the first moments after Paul was sworn in as senator."
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