Washington In the Senate, tea party darlings Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky and Ted Cruz (R) of Texas have often stood shoulder-to-shoulder as allies.
In March 2013, when Senator Paul launched his nearly 13-hour talking filibuster opposing the nomination of John Brennan for Central Intelligence Agency director and condemning the use of drones, his freshman colleague from Texas helped him on the Senate floor by addressing legal concerns and reading aloud supportive Twitter comments.
Six months later, Paul returned the favor by putting in a cameo appearance when Senator Cruz staged his own 21-hour filibuster against the Affordable Care Act. The Cruz-a-thon led to a 16-day partial government shutdown that tea partyers strongly supported even though it backfired with a plummet in GOP approval ratings.
With Paul announcing his presidential bid on Tuesday, however, hes now competing with Cruz, who was the first to announce his candidacy on March 23. That raises the question as to which of them if either, given the potentially crowded field will carry the day for the anti-establishment wing of the party and whether either can broaden his appeal enough to win the nomination.
Despite being steeped in the same tea party brew Paul was elected in the movements wave year of 2010 and Cruz followed in 2012 the two men contrast sharply in style, substance, and strategy.
Rand Pauls public persona is so different from the one Cruz has adopted, says Stephen Voss, associate professor of political science at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. I dont think theyre going to be pressing the same buttons.
The tousle-haired and boyish looking Paul, emerging from a television studio in Ray-Bans and shorts, exudes authenticity an observation once made by his establishment backer and fellow Kentuckian, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.
Some of the tech-savvy libertarians ideas he favors a smaller United States footprint overseas and prison sentencing reform at home stray from GOP orthodoxy.
Pauls strategy is to grow the libertarian brand within the GOP by energizing new voters: young people and minorities. Last month he spoke at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas, and hes reached out to African-Americans in Ferguson, Mo., in Detroit, and at historically black colleges.
Cruz, on the other hand, is buttoned-down and combative not a hair out of place on his person or in his disciplined message of conservative values and hawkish foreign policy.
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Rand Paul vs. Ted Cruz: Is 2016 big enough for both of them? (+video)