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Republicans from all across Kentucky will be in the audience next week when Sen. Rand Paul announces his presidential run in Louisville with one big exception.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed Pauls national bid. But there are official endorsements and then there are endorsements with all the accouterments fundraising help, stops on the campaign trail, leaning on fellow pols to get on board and McConnells imprimatur is decidedly in the former category.

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In the latest twist in a relationship between two politicians who in many respects are polar opposites, the Republican leader wont be on hand for his junior senators White House campaign kickoff. Sources familiar with his decision insisted its not meant as a slight: McConnell is simply following through on his pledge not to campaign for Paul, lest he play favorites among the three other members of his conference planning or eyeing bids of their own.

While McConnell has made his support for Rand known, he also has a job to do as majority leader, said one Republican official with knowledge of their relationship. With several members of his conference running for the same office, its just easier for him to do his day job that way.

The two Kentucky Republicans cut very different profiles one is the embodiment of the party establishment, the other a tea party libertarian yet theyve formed an alliance the past few years that has paid political dividends for both. Each has helped the others cause with the part of the GOP in which hes weakest Pauls endorsement of McConnells reelection last year helped the GOP leader court the conservative grass roots, and McConnell has lent Paul cred with more mainstream Republicans as he tries to broaden his appeal for 2016.

But McConnells move to skip Pauls presidential launch shows the limits of their alliance.

McConnell isnt the only lawmaker grappling with the presidential ambitions of colleagues from their states delegation. In states such as Florida, where Sen. Marco Rubio plans to formally announce his bid in mid-April, Republicans like Rep. John Mica are instead supporting their states former governor, Jeb Bush. In South Carolina, Sen. Tim Scott plans to stay neutral even as his senior colleague from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, is openly toying with a run. And in Texas, conservative firebrand Ted Cruz has won few allies in his states delegation, with many eager to jump behind another candidate or stay out of the race altogether.

Asked about Cruz, Texas Rep. Pete Sessions said he believes his states delegation will instead rally behind a Republican candidate with wider appeal.

We need someone who can win the state of Florida, can win the state of Pennsylvania and can win the state of Ohio, Sessions said. We can have favorite sons. There is nothing wrong with that, but Republicans want to win before we want an ideological [candidate].

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McConnell-Paul alliance has its limits

It never ceases to amaze how many people assume that because Rand Paul says reasonable things about the drug war and describes himself as a libertarian conservative, he must be down with the gay rights movement. This isnt simply a belief shared by low-information voters; indeed, it often creeps into media coverage of the Kentucky senator and likely 2016 presidential candidate. In 2014, NPR described Paulas the candidate of GOP voters more tolerant of same-sex marriage, and Politico has suggested that Paul would offer the gay community a presidential pat on the head.

But despite the widely held perception that Paul represents a break with the GOPs anti-gay record, theres little that separates Paul from Rick Santorum on LGBT issues. He has long opposed marriage equality and non-discrimination protections, and just within the past month, Paul has declared that same-sex nuptials offend him and called marriage equality a sign of a moral crisis in American society.

Now, thanks to BuzzFeeds Dominic Holden, we have further evidence of Pauls deep-seated anti-gay views. Holden unearthed a little-noticed 2013 interview in which Paul effectively tried to marry his libertarian views with his opposition to gay equality, declaring that he supports rights for individuals, but not those for groups and not those based on behavior.

I dont think Ive ever used the word gay rights, because I dont really believe in rights based on your behavior, Paul said.

Set aside the patent offensiveness of Pauls notion that being gay is a behavior its an enduring and intrinsic identity, and Pauls statement reduces it to a matter of carnality. Whats particularly striking is that Paul wholly ignores that millions of gay Americans have been denied equal rights because they are gay, which is the very reason a gay rights movement I hope I didnt offend you, senator exists.

In 13 states, gay people are still denied the right to marry, and while were proceeding inexorably toward nationwide marriage equality, that will hardly spell the end of the communitys problems. The Williams Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles estimated in 2011that 40 percent of gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers will experience some manner of employment discrimination in their lifetime; in 29 states, thats perfectly legal. LGBT people are also disproportionately targeted for hate crimes, and as Indiana reminded us this past week, many religious conservatives still see gay people as a substantial burden to their livelihoods.

But please, Rand Paul, enlighten us more with arguments gleaned from the College Libertarian club.

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Rand Paul slams gay rights in unearthed 2013 interview: I dont really believe in rights based on your behavior

DESTIN U.S. Sen. Rand Paul looked like a man on vacation when he and his wife slipped nearly unnoticed into Mama Clemenzas restaurant Monday evening.

Blue jeans and a sports jacket, no sign of an entourage of handlers. Just a guy come to see some friends who were paying $250 a plate for the pleasure of dining with him.

Perhaps Paul looked the part because he was living it. He was vacationing in Destin, same as his family has always done.

My big announcement is we love Destin and well keep coming back here for Spring Break like we have for the last 25 years, said the Kentucky senator when goaded by a reporter for word of his future plans.

Though recent polls show former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and its GOP U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio as the favorites among state voters, Paul, who is yet to officially announce his plans to run for the presidency, isnt afraid of early numbers.

It will be competitive, he said. I think the vote will be divided a lot of different ways. Ive been a lot of places around the state and the reception has been good.

Pauls definitely got his fans. Carol Benson and Ken Ford drove from Panama City to be among the 28 who dined with him. Stewart Bugg came in from Pensacola.

We like that he has a Republican/Libertarian slant, Benson said. I think he has new, fresh ideas that speak to a younger generation.

Bugg said hes been voting Libertarian since 1988, and sent a check to help Paul win the Senate seat he holds.

And it wasnt all Republicans who came out to see Paul speak. Frank Day holds a position with the Walton County Democratic Party.

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Rand Paul meets with supporters in Destin

Rand Paul(Photo: File photo)

It looks like presidential hopeful Rand Paul has found a clever way to champion ethanol, with an issue that's in harmony with his keep-government-out-of-the-marketplace mentality.

Paul, a Republican U.S. senator from Kentucky, has teamed up with Iowa's popular U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, to introduce the Fuel Choice and Deregulation Act.

Ethanol industry backers say the bill would grant relief from a regulatory quirk that's thwarting free market sales of E15, fuel that's 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline.

The bill dropped on Thursday, with little fanfare from either senator's office.

Industry insiders are applauding it, even as they warn it's not a substitute for support for the all-important renewable fuel standard a government mandate that Paul frowns upon.

"There's a big gulf. If you ask us for our top three priorities, it's RFS, RFS, RFS," Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, told The Des Moines Register Tuesday. "But fixing this issue for ethanol would be number four."

GOP and Democratic leaders in Iowa are pressing presidential candidates to voice full-throated support for the renewable fuel standard, arguing it's crucial to Iowa's corn-centric economy and necessary to break through oil's near monopoly on transportation fuels after a century of government subsidies. The RFS requires oil refiners to steadily increase over the years the amounts of ethanol and biofuels they mix into the nation's fuel supply.

Paul is working hard to cultivate voters in first-in-the-nation Iowa. He has done more campaign-style events in Iowa than any GOP contender other than Rick Perry and Rick Santorum, and returns Friday, April 10 for a big speech in Iowa City.

Paul hasn't explicitly said he opposes the renewable fuel standard, but has implied it. He has said he prefers to let the market decide which forms of energy to support.

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Rand Paul finds way to champion Iowa ethanol

Rand Paul Reaction To Ted Cruz Liberty University Speech - Paul #39;s Response
Rand Paul Reaction To Ted Cruz Liberty University Speech.

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Rand Paul Reaction To Ted Cruz Liberty University Speech - Paul's Response - Video