Rand Paul Says He Wants to Be VP for Romney: Is He Selling Out the Libertarian Movement?

Impact

The speculation surrounding Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) endorsement of Mitt Romney took an interesting turn this Friday when the son of libertarian icon Ron Paul said that “it would be an honor” to run alongside the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

The declarations came during a CNN interview with Don Lemon during which Paul, in pure national politics mode, highlighted his origins as a “small town” physician who would be “honored” to be considered as the vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party. 

“I think that would be something that anybody who said otherwise would not be being truthful,” he added in a not-so-subtle jab to now potential competitors New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

However, Paul, a Tea Party favorite who while recently endorsing Romney emphasized he mainly supported his father’s presidential run, said he hasn’t had any discussions or proposal so far.     

Paul, nonetheless, is exhibiting a never seen before tone of unity during a Republican race in which Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are the two last men standing at the end of a long and spirited road, which resembles the bruising 2008 presidential Democratic primary between then Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  

"The nomination is now done and Romney has achieved the amount of delegates necessary to be the nominee," Paul said. "Those are just facts. And I've decided to endorse Romney after meeting with him and talking about a lot of areas that we actually do have common ground on."

It’ll be interesting to see which are the areas both the libertarian and the more establishment wings of the Republican Party have in common. Will the rest of Ron Paul supporters be as forthcoming with Romney as Rand Paul has been? It’ll all be seen at the Tampa convention if “PaulFest” effectively becomes “MittFest.”