GOP leaders reconsider Paul

MEMPHIS, Tennessee Not that long ago, most Republican leaders saw Rand Paul as the head of an important faction who, like his father, ultimately had no shot at becoming the partys presidential nominee.

Now the question is no longer whether Paul can win the nomination, but whether he can win a general election.

The shift follows a year in which the Kentucky senator has barnstormed the country, trying to expand the partys base beyond older, white voters and attract a following beyond than the libertarian devotees of his father, Ron Paul. Although the job is far from complete, Paul has made undeniable progress, judging from interviews with more than 30 Republican National Committee members meeting here this week.

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That he has struck a chord with this crowd is all the more telling because it is heavy with GOP establishment-types who tend to prefer mainstream candidates.

I dont see how anyone could say its not possible hed win the nomination, Texas GOP chairman Steve Munisteri said. His mission is to convince people of what his coalition would be in November 2016.

During a speech Friday to the RNC gathering, Paul received a standing ovation after saying that the GOP didnt need to dilute its message but that it had to communicate it better to non-traditional audiences and suggesting implicitly that hes the guy to do it.

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To paraphrase Captain Kirk, we need to go boldly to where Republicans havent been going, he said. We need to go from Harlem to Berkeley, to East Los Angeles and Laredo.

Paul has not officially declared hes running for president, he has plenty of critics and also has suffered a series of stumbles that could haunt him down the line. But the pervasive mood here at the RNC spring meeting was that theres no frontrunner for the nomination, which means theres an opening for the 51-year-old Paul.

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GOP leaders reconsider Paul