Rand Paul talks about running for President in 2016 — Tea Party and other Right leaning blogs immediately echoed the mere mention of RP’s possible run

Less than three weeks post-election in 2012 and libertarian Republican Rand Paul has started phones ringing, and computer terminals clicking and buzzing merely by mentioning a possible run for the presidency in 2016  —  his positions on immigration, defense cuts and legalization of marijuana would really shake, rattle and roll the current GOP, whose most recent nominees McCain and Romney had stands on a lot of that were quite stodgy by comparison.

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul said he's interested in mounting a 2016 presidential bid. "I'm not going to deny that I'm interested," said Paul in an ABC News interview published yesterday. That item was picked up by some local press in Kentucky and went national with reports in “The Hill” and “The Huffington Post.”  At least one of the Tea Party blogs picked up the news and ran their own post about Rand Paul’s comments about his possible run for the GOP 2016 nomination.

According to the report in “the Hill,” Rand Paul emphasized that he was not yet ready to announce his candidacy, but said he did believe his brand of  “libertarianism” could open up the map for Republicans. The young U.S. Senator from Kentucky, who has been a favorite of the Tea Party movement, would be breaking new ground if he were an actual GOP Presidential candidate. "I think we have to go a different direction, because we're just not winning, and we have to think about some different ideas....”  Among his proposals: undertaking immigration reform, making defense cuts and allowing the individual states to legalize marijuana. "States should be allowed to make a lot of these decisions....  I want things to be decided more at a local basis, with more compassion. I think it would make us as Republicans different."

There had already been some buzz about Senator Paul’s political ambitions, when after endorsing Mitt Romney before the Republican National Convention, he was rewarded with a high-profile speaking slot at the 2012 RNC in Tampa. Given that a significant financial and field infrastructure is already in place from his father Ron Paul’s runs for the presidency, an early entry by Rand Paul would make the 2016 race for the nomination a grueling marathon for any of the other prospective candidates