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TIME Politics 2016 Election The Ghosts of Ron Paul Haunt His Son U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (L) talks to his father Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) (R) during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 22, 2011. Alex WongGetty Images Ron Paul is quickly going from being his son's greatest asset to his worst liability

Late last week, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnells campaign manager Jesse Benton quietly resigned. But the move wont affect McConnells campaign so much as one that has yet to be launched: fellow Kentuckian Rand Pauls anticipated bid for the White House in 2016.

McConnell had hired Benton, who worked for Ron Pauls presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012, and for Pauls son Rands insurgent 2010 senatorial bid, for his connections to the Tea Party and grassroots activists. Unfortunately for Benton, it is those connections in the early voting state of Iowa that have gotten him in trouble.

The scandal goes back to the 2012 presidential race, when Iowa State Senator Ken Sorensen dramatically left Michele Bachmanns campaign just days before the caucuses and endorsed Ron Paul. After a 31-month federal investigation, Sorensen finally admitted to seeking a $75,000 payment for the jump from the Paul campaign. He named Benton as the person within the Paul campaign with whom he negotiated. Benton has denied the allegations as untrue and false, but resigned nonetheless to spare unfairly undermining McConnells tough reelection.

Allegations that Benton and former Ron Paul 2012 Iowa vice chair AJ Spiker may have been involved in the scandal throw a wrench into the younger Pauls campaign structure, as he had hoped to inherit much of his fathers political network. But there may be another shoe yet to drop. The federal investigation into the pay-for-endorsement scheme continues, and may seek to target other former Paul staffers involved. Repeated requests for comment from Pauls Iowa staffers went unanswered.

The incident is just one of many this summer where Rand Paulwho owes his Libertarian political identity to his fatherhas had to reconsider shared staff or distance himself from his fathers positions. The outspoken three-time presidential contender is quickly cementing himself as his sons greatest political vulnerabilityand hes not going away anytime soon.

While Paul-the-younger has been working to reframe his foreign policy to be more palatable to the GOPs hawkish wing, his father has been making that task increasingly difficult. Speaking on the Money and Markets podcast, Ron Paul defended 9/11 truthers, adding that the federal government did more harm to Americans liberties than Osama bin Laden. Its politically very risky to talk about it, Paul said. Though Rand Paul has skated close to truthers in his career, hes never endorsed the conspiracy theory.

The disconnect between father and son was further on stark display this weekend when the younger Paul said President Barack Obamas admission that he has no strategy to tackle ISIS in Syria meant Maybe its time for a new president. In a follow-up comment to the Associated Press, Rand Paul added he would seek congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily.

The elder Paul, however, celebrated the presidents candid moment. A lack of strategy is a glimmer of hope. Perhaps the president will finally stop listening to the neocons and interventionists whose recommendations have gotten us into this mess in the first place! Heres a strategy: just come home.

There are many places where the two agree. For example both wrote op-eds excoriating the militarization of the police after the riots in Ferguson, Mo. But more often than not, they dont. Ron Paul has called for clemency for Edward Snowden while his son says Snowden deserves a light prison sentence. Rand Paul has called for strong sanctions against Russia, while his father has opposed such sanctions saying they might sink the U.S. dollar.

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The Ghosts of Ron Paul Haunt His Son

Ron Paul Is Back Part Two Jesse Ventura Off The Grid Ora TV

By: alex jones

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For several years Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky and the son of presidential candidate Ron Paul, has been one of the most interesting politicians in his party and in congress as a whole. At a time when new ideas have become increasingly scarce, and the policy bandwidth increasingly narrow in Washington, Mr. Paul, whether speaking about US intervention and foreign policy or more recently about militarization and the police, has been one of the few politicians with views outside of his partys mainstream. With the 2016 presidential election approaching, this has made Mr. Paul one of the most intriguing presidential candidates. But whats made him special mayalso may be changing.

As the 2016 election draws nearer, Mr. Paul, according to Politico has bolstered his circle of advisors with a mix of conservativeinsiders like anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist, former Bush administration official and previous president of the International Republican Institute (IRI) Lorne Craner and James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation, as well as with a number of organizationsthat are not usually found advising Republican presidential hopefuls, including the ACLU and Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an organization working to reform prison sentencing.

Lastweek Mr. Paul, who since being elected to the senate in 2010 has been one of the most influentialvoices against a broadly interventionist foreign policy, called for a very strong military response to ISIS. This view places Paul firmly in the mainstream of his party and of most of the American foreign policy establishment. ISIS is also a sufficiently significant threat that Mr. Pauls statement is not inconsistent with his general view that intervention should only occur when U.S. national security is threatened.

Based on his advisors and his recent public statements on issues as diverse as ISIS and Ferguson it is apparent that Mr. Paul is being pulled between his purerLibertarian principles and the demands ofRepublican primary voters and conservative donors. During the next few months Mr. Paul will need to resolve this tension. He can either remaining a Libertarian and continue to take positions on issues from prison sentencing to the NSA that differfrom his partys establishment. Or he can sidle closer to that establishment in a way his father never did, by becoming another voice for an interventionist foreign policy and conservative social policies. In a political environment with no shortage of conventional and timid politicians, it would certainly make for a more compelling campaign if he chose the former.

Lincoln Mitchell is the national political correspondent for the Observer. Follow him on Twitter @LincolnMitchell.

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Is Rand Paul Becoming Just Another Republican?