海角大神

Sen. Rand Paul, the darling of libertarian-leaning Republicans, appeared to win big on election night. He helped his fellow Kentucky Republican 鈥� Mitch McConnell 鈥� win reelection to the Senate, setting Senator McConnell on course to become majority leader. Senator Paul also stumped for other Republicans in more than 30 states. His party won control of the Senate.

But the GOP failed in Kentucky in a key way: The party did not win a majority in the state House of Representatives. And that complicates Paul鈥檚 political future.

Paul has already said he plans to run for reelection to the Senate in 2016, and he has made no secret of his presidential ambitions. But Kentucky doesn鈥檛 allow a candidate鈥檚 name to appear on a ballot more than once. So unlike Joe Biden (2008) and Paul Ryan (2012), whose home states (Delaware and Wisconsin) allowed them to run for Senate and House, respectively, while running for vice president, Paul is barred from doing that.

Democrats in the Kentucky legislature鈥檚 lower chamber have said they won鈥檛 change the law. They鈥檙e hoping Paul will give up his Senate seat so he can run for president. 聽

But a new gambit may be under way: Switch Kentucky鈥檚 May 2016 GOP primary to a statewide caucus system 鈥� since most caucuses don鈥檛 involve ballots. Kentucky Republicans are considering the idea, which Paul reportedly discussed with the chairman of the state party Tuesday night. The party committee鈥檚 governing body would have to approve the switch.

鈥淚鈥檓 sure they would be very open to having a discussion and debate,鈥� Kentucky GOP chairman Steve Robertson . But, he said, there are questions about how it would work, and how much it would cost.

The party has until October 2015 to make a decision.

Another option might be for Paul not to compete for president in Kentucky 鈥� either in the primary or in the general election. 聽He would be giving up the state鈥檚 convention delegates, but Kentucky is a small state. Same with the general election ballot: If he won the nomination but kept his name off the ballot in Kentucky, he鈥檇 be giving up the state鈥檚 eight electoral votes. Such an approach would certainly invite lawsuits.

In any event, running for two major offices at once might just be too much. 聽

鈥淚 think that if Rand Paul tried to run for both Senate and president, it would be a nightmare for him,鈥� says Stephen Voss, a political scientist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. 鈥淚t would mean that on the national stage, there鈥檇 be a home-grown critic 鈥� a well-funded one, lobbing all kinds of attacks on him separate from what his presidential opponents were up to.鈥�

Two other Republican senators are in a similar boat: Marco Rubio of Florida and Rob Portman of Ohio. They鈥檙e both up for reelection in 2016, and both are thinking of running for president. Senator Rubio if he decides to run for president 鈥� and Florida law doesn't allow running for two offices at once anyway. 聽聽

Senator Portman actually could run for both, but he says he won鈥檛. 聽

鈥淎t this point, I鈥檓 planning to run for Senate in Ohio,鈥� Portman in August. 鈥淵our next question is going to be, 鈥楥an鈥檛 you do both?鈥� And the answer is, 鈥榊es,鈥� but I wouldn鈥檛. I think you need to focus.鈥�