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Politics 2016 Election Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky speaks to the crowd at the Tea Party Patriots 5th anniversary conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 27, 2014. Mark PetersonRedux

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is hard at work laying the groundwork for an almost certain presidential campaign in 2016, but as he broadens his support among libertarian and younger voters, theres a budding countercampaign to take him down if he becomes a threat to actually win the nomination.

At the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) meeting in Las Vegas this weekend, Paul was nowhere to be found, but his presence was felt in the form of a straw man and frequent worry. Speaker after speaker, from former Florida governor Jeb Bush to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, laid into Pauls more isolationist views on foreign policy. They never mentioned the lawmaker by name, but the message came across loud and clear.

The conference brings together some of the biggest names and wallets in Republican politics, most notably billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. At a private dinner for VIP donors in an Adelson-owned aircraft hangar holding one of his pair of Boeing 747s, Bush was asked about the growing isolationist wing of the Republican Party and replied there was no such thing effectively casting Paul out of the fold, according to attendees.

John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., bemoaned a rising tide of neoisolationism within the Republican Party, and blasted those, like Paul, who oppose throwing the book at admitted NSA leaker Edward Snowden, as unfit to serve.

America must be engaged in the world, and we should help the people who share our values, Ohio Governor John Kasich told guests at a Saturday lunch.

To the pro-Israel crowd, Paul is viewed by many as different from his father, former Representative Ron Paul, whose positions had kept him from getting an invite to the conservative confab in prior years. Nevertheless concerns remain about the younger Paul, who was invited this year but did not attend.

His edges arent as sharp as his fathers, says Ari Fleischer, a former White House press secretary. But theres still a naivet thats going to be a problem. He represents a departure from something a lot of Republicans are used to.

Rand Paul has told top GOP donors that he is evolving on foreign policy, particularly when it comes to his positions on Israel, according to several people who have had conversations with him. In recent months he has toned down his opposition to foreign aid a red flag for most at the RJC replacing it with a call to end foreign aid to countries that are unfriendly to the U.S. He has also increased his outreach to prominent pro-Israel and neoconservative thinkers and donors to show he is interested in having a dialogue. The U.S. gives more than $3 billion in foreign aid to Israel every year, almost entirely in the form of grants for Israels military and defense services.

Matt Brooks, executive director of the RJC, says the group is trying to help move him along on his transformation.

The rest is here:

GOP Hawks Worry Rand Paul Has Too Much Ron