The Fix: Will Rand Paul inherit the energy of Ron Pauls campaigns?

Last week, Michael Nystrom wrote a post at DailyPaul.com, a site he founded, that indicates its end is near. The site was for years a focal point of conversation and energy orbiting the stated and implied political philosophy of Ron Paul. Its animated logo unveils the site's mantra: P (eace) - AU (gold) - L (love).

No longer. "We'll watch the opening of the Rand Paul campaign. That should be interesting," Nystrom wrote in the post, nestled between a report on artificial chemicals from Infowars and critique of the State Department. "But then I'll have to go, because my alliance is not with any politician or any political party, but with Liberty herself."

Earlier this year, he offered more of a rationale. "The Ron Paul era is over. We're moving into the Rand Paul era. So out of respect to both men, but mainly to Ron, a chapter should officially be closed."

Since it became obvious that he would run for president -- something that is expected to become official on Tuesday -- two questions have surrounded Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) First, could he retain the energy of Ron Paul's vocal and generous base of support in his 2008 and 2012 campaigns? (Update: The Times reports that Ron Paul will attend the announcement.) And, second, could he distance himself from his father's more ... exotic beliefs? We've addressed the latter before; so far, he's emerged unscathed, even as Ron Paul keeps doing his own thing.

But what about the former? There's not much mention of Rand in the comments to Nystrom's farewell address. Over at Ron Paul Forums, though, the Paul family chapter seems to be continuing, rather than closing. "That was a great promo!," commented Bastiat's The Law on a post containing Rand's announcement video. "Reminds me of some of the passionate Ron Paul youtube videos."

There hasn't been polling showing how Ron Paul supporters from 2008 and 2012 are leaning in 2016. But we can compare Washington Post polling on the favorability of each as an indicator. We focused on age, because of the frequent assumption that Rand hopes to mobilize the young voters that powered his father's campaigns.

In March 2012, late into the campaign cycle, Ron Paul was seen less favorably than Rand is now, even though both were about equally well-known.

What's more, Ron hadweaker support and faced stronger opposition than Rand is seeing.

That suggests that Rand Paul's balancing act, which the Post reported on earlier Monday, might be working. Nick Gillespie of Reason magazine called Rand Paul "libertarian-ish," which probably isn't a huge negative for someone running in what will likely be a series of conservative Republican primaries.

The poll numbers above mightalso serve as a reminder that Rand Paul hasn't yet seen the sort of criticism that tends to wither a politician's base of support. That's where Ron Paul's base shined. It's been eight years since he first ran for the GOP nomination for president, and they've kept up active discussion groups dedicated to his principles. As the header at DailyPaul makes clear, Ron's fervent focus on less-trodden, outsider issueslike gold earned him that loyalty.

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The Fix: Will Rand Paul inherit the energy of Ron Pauls campaigns?