Chad’s Morning Brief: Rand Paul to Launch Presidential Campaign Today, Hillary Clinton Looks to Go Small With Her Campaign, and Other Top Stories

Here is your Morning Brief for April 7, 2015.

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Rand 2016

Senator Rand Paul will announce today that he is running for President. An article from the USA Today explained the themes that Senator Paul's campaign may use.

The nearly three-minute video was posted Sunday on Paul's website and YouTube channel.
The video highlights themes that Paul, first elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave, will incorporate in his campaign. His remarks from CPAC, where he won the presidential straw poll for a third straight year, are woven with positive comments from notable figures such as Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who ran for president in 2012, ex-national GOP chairman Michael Steele and even Jon Stewart of The Daily Show.
There is reference to Paul's outreach to minority voters and his devotion to constitutional principles, as well as the senator's more than 12-hour filibuster in 2013 of John Brennan's nomination as CIA director. The Brennan filibuster helped spark the Stand with Rand movement and hashtag that are expected to play prominent roles during the senator's presidential bid.

Rand Paul's campaign is certainly one I am looking forward to. Paul has the possibility of having the most interesting race in 2016 because of his libertarian roots along his Tea Party fans. Paul has also been able to reach out to the so-called establishment Republicans when needed.

If Paul can convince Republicans that he will be okay on foreign policy then I think he could have a real shot. Paul appeals to many different types of voters, the question is, once you put them all together will there be enough to win? It should be a good campaign to keep up with.

Hillary Downsizing

According to CNN, Hillary Clinton is taking a new direction when it comes to her campaign. For 2016, smaller is better for Team Clinton.

As she and a coterie of advisers prepare to launch her presidential campaign, their work is guided by a new set of humble principles: No big crowds. Few soaring rallies. Less mention of her own ambitions. And extinguish the air of inevitability propelling her candidacy.
The long and winding prelude to her announcement is nearly over, according to aides, and the start of her second bid for the White House is likely only days away. Top Democratic activists in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire privately say they have been placed on alert that Clinton will soon be on her way.
The specific moment she jumps into the race remains a closely guarded secret, even inside the crowded corridors of her small office suite in Manhattan, which new aides have descended upon to build the operation. Only a handful of confidantes actually know the precise time Clinton will pull the trigger — first on social media — yet aides have been instructed to be ready from Monday forward.
But her campaign strategy has crystallized: She will devote considerable time and attention to on-the-ground footwork in Iowa and New Hampshire. She intends to make less frequent stops in Nevada and South Carolina. Together, those four states kick off the nominating contest early next year and will help determine how warmly Democrats embrace her candidacy.

While Hillary Clinton doesn't want to have her campaign become like Obama's, it won't matter. The news media will welcome a Clinton campaign and treat it as the biggest thing to happen since 2008.

Still, Clinton has her weaknesses and if Republicans play this right, I think they can win. Clinton isn't as strong as she was in 2008 and she lost then. It could happen again but only if Republicans don't screw things up.