WASHINGTON — Many major Republican figures are still trying to decide whether to enter the 2012 presidential race. But in the Paul family, the question is not so much whether to run. It’s more along the lines of: Who will run?
For months, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and his father, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, have been engaged in an Alphonse-and-Gaston routine, each expressing interest in a bid for the White House.
It is unprecedented in American political history — a father and son publicly considering presidential bids at the same time.
The younger Paul, 48, says he won’t run against his father, 75. But if his father decides not to run, he will consider it.
Earlier this week, Ron Paul took the first step toward resolving the matter by announcing in Des Moines, Iowa, that he was forming a 2012 presidential exploratory committee.
That doesn’t mean he will run — or that his son won’t — but it does allow the elder Paul to raise and spend money on a 2012 candidacy.
He said he expected to make a decision about entering the race by the end of May and that he would spend the next several weeks evaluating whether his supporters’ enthusiasm would translate into financial backing.
The White House has only seen two successful father-and-son presidential bids, but they were successive: John Adams (1797-1801) and John Quincy Adams (1825-1829), and George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) and George W. Bush (2001-2009).
Ron Paul, who has been in Congress since 1997 after a stint in the House in the late 1970s and early 1980s, is one of the unofficial leaders of the leaderless tea party movement. He ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 and was the Libertarian Party candidate in 1988.
His son, who has been in Congress only since January, is a symbol of the tea party’s appeal in last year’s elections. While a Washington and national political novice, he already has plunged into debates over government spending and debt, federal regulations, and Social Security reform.
Until this week, it had been unclear which of the two would make the first presidential move.
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