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It is no secret that President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) have had a rocky relationship.

There was the early, awkward attempt at bonding on the golf course; then one waited for the other's return call that never came; and now there is as little interaction as is required.

So the prospect of the two men leaving Washington this week for a breezy fundraising jaunt to California may have raised hopes of a reconciliation.

Any such hopes were dashed quickly. There would be no back-channel summit in the Golden State.

The closest the two men got was on Thursday, as they attended tony, if separate, fundraisers on the Westside.

Obama's motorcade pulled into the Brentwood home of actress Gwyneth Paltrow on Thursday evening after Boehner had already stopped by a Beverly Hills GOP fundraiser that morning.

Close, but still so far -- nothing more, it seems, than cars passing in L.A. area traffic as each seeks to gain advantage back in Washington.

"We can pick up seats in California," Boehner spokesman Cory Fritz said as his boss was criss-crossing the state, starting in Sacramento and making his way down to San Diego by Friday to raise money for Republican candidates he hopes can expand his majority in the House this fall.

As Obama put it during a stop to the campaign office of a Democrat running for another of the seats: "California is right at the heart of the battle for control of the House."

For the latest from Congress follow @LisaMascaro on Twitter.

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Obama and Boehner still miles apart, even while in L.A.

Rand Paul wants to provide "job training" to nonviolent drug offenders
Rand Paul was in Ferguson, pandering for the Black vote ahead of his 2016 run. He was on the Situation Room following his meetings. He advocated reducing sentences for nonviolent drug offenders...

By: LSUDVM

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Rand Paul wants to provide "job training" to nonviolent drug offenders - Video

updated 2:59 PM EDT, Fri October 10, 2014

Sen. Rand Paul has said repeatedly that he's considering a run for president in 2016

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Wolf Blitzer's interview with Rand Paul will air in full on CNN's "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET

(CNN) -- In 2011, Sen. Rand Paul told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he would favor a halt of U.S. foreign aid, including assistance to Israel.

In August, at the height of the recent Gaza conflict, the Kentucky Republican made headlines for declaring he never proposed ending aid to the country.

Democrats and other critics seized on his sharp change in tune and blasted the likely presidential contender for flip-flopping. The criticism kicked off a wave of close scrutiny of Paul's past statements.

On Friday, Rand spoke with Blitzer again, saying he stands by what he told him in 2011.

"Interestingly, they keep playing our interview, Wolf. So we had a great interview. But the interesting thing of it is I actually still do agree with what I told you. Ultimately, I think a country that's $18 trillion in debt should not be borrowing money from China to send it to anyone," he said.

What Rand Paul thinks is the 'biggest mistake' for GOP

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Rand Paul doubles to down on aid to Israel

Rand Paul usually starts with a joke; it relieves the tension thats never there. On Tuesday, Sept. 30, the junior Senator from Kentucky is running a little late, but a University of South Carolina lecture room is already overfull, stragglers fighting for space behind a row of TV cameras. A few college Democrats are in the room, but as listeners, not hecklers.

Most of the students actually sound like Brett Harris, a sophomore studying political science, who had showed up an hour early to win a front-row center seat. Id have camped out on the lawn if Id had to, he says, clutching a red-and-white STAND WITH RAND sign to his matching STAND WITH RAND T-shirt. Of course I would! Its Rand Paul!

Harris starts to explain his affinity for Paul, and how right hes been about foreign policy, when the man himself arrives; jeans and battered cowboy boots, no jacket. This will be his uniform for two days of speeches and schmoozing and selfies, across South Carolina and North Carolina, in front of everyone from military veterans to pastors to reporters to donors to students. The students would come first.

Will we in 20 years be fighting a war and saying, Oh yeah, we voted for it in 2001?

Rand Paul

Last time I was here, I was at a barbecue, says Paul. The guy in front of me was loading up two plates of barbecue. I said, Youre not gonna live long eating like that! He said, My granddad lived to be 105. I said, He didnt live to 105 by eating like that. He said, No, my granddad lived to be 105 by minding his own business.

The joke is as fresh as the last grease scrapings from an outdoor smoker. Two years ago, Paul liked to deliver it before introducing his father, Rep. Ron Paul, to the Republican voters tasked with picking a presidential nominee. His father badly lost the South Carolina primary both times he ran, which was taken as evidence that antiwar libertarianism had no place in the heartland of the modern Republican party. Rand Paul is in the state to explain what these voters missed. His sort of politics should be popularin fact, isnt it popular already?

Dave Weigel/Bloomberg

Rand Paul speaks to students at the University of South Carolina.

Sometimes I think if we ought to have a campaign theme for government, that ought to be it, says Paul when the guffaws subside. Minding your own business. Maybe theres enough of us in the country who say, you know what? Lets be part of the Leave Me Alone coalition.

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Episode 3

Ferguson Is a Libertarian Dystopia (w/ Mark Ames)
Libertarians claim to oppose police violence, but they #39;ve spent decades championing the privatization of police and prison that warped our criminal justice system. Read Mark Ames #39; piece on...

By: The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow

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Ferguson Is a Libertarian Dystopia (w/ Mark Ames) - Video