According to several news reports, one of three super-PACs backing Rand Paul for president has stopped raising money and the Kentucky senator may be transitioning toward running for re-election rather than seeking the White House.
Politico reports that the Purple PAC, overseen by Ed Crane, co-founder of the Cato Institute, said operations have ceased because Paul’s previous libertarian views have “disappeared.”
“I have stopped raising money for him until I see the campaign correct its problems,” Crane said. “I wasn’t going to raise money to spend on a futile crusade.”
At the same time, The Hill reported that Paul will attend fundraisers on Wednesday and Thursday for his re-election to the Senate. A special state law created to assist Paul allows him to run for president and Congress simultaneously.
Meanwhile, The Hill also reported that several Paul supporters have defected to fellow GOP Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign. Among them: former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), who ran for president in 2008 as a Libertarian Party candidate.
The shutdown of the Purple PAC is an embarrassing setback for the Paul campaign, which lags badly in the polls, in two ways. It suggests substantial internal discord and it highlight’s the freshman senator’s poor fundraising record.
As of June 30, the PAC had raised only $1.15 million but the largest super-PAC supporting the Kentuckian, America’s Liberty PAC, registered just $3.1 million in contributions in it’s mid-year report.
In contrast, Cruz who also languishes in single-digit poll numbers, exceeds Paul’s super-PAC haul by more than $20 million. Worse yet, both candidates who quit the race — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Texas governor Rick Perry — outraised Paul in the super-PAC category.
