The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a brief Q and A with Senator Rand Paul from his current visit to Maine.
In it, they appear to have gone from trying to drive a wedge between Rand and his father Ron Paul, to driving one between him and fellow Republican Susan Collins. For his part, Paul wasn’t biting.
Actually, Paul the younger did more to distance himself from his Dad than he did GOP moderate Susan Collins.
Telegram: Last cycle, your father was at the center of a feud in the Maine Republican Party, which divided groups of Republicans. You’ve been in the Northeast over the past few days meeting with ex-Mitt Romney aides ahead of that potential presidential run. Are you acknowledging that you would need to expand on the base that spurred him in his runs?
Rand Paul: Yeah, I mean, you win elections by bringing people together, not dividing them, and I believe that really there’s a lot of commonality between folks in the Republican Party and we need to learn somewhat from the Democrats.
The Democrats have a hundred different coalitions in their party and they seem to come together to be a bigger party. We need to do the same things.
Telegram: You’re going to join U.S. Sen. Susan Collins for a state party fundraiser today. She’s defended National Security Agency spying programs you oppose, and she’s also running against a Democrat, Shenna Bellows, who comes pretty close to sharing your views on that and other privacy issues. Do you support her, despite disagreement on many of those issues?
Rand Paul: I wholeheartedly endorse Senator Collins for re-election. I think she’s doing a great job for Maine and for the country. … I don’t really know, exactly, what her position is on the NSA; you’d have to ask her about that.
I just know my position, but I think we’re a big political party. There’s room for not-entire agreement on every issue.
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