Boosted by his nearly 13-hour filibuster waged against whether the U.S. government believed it could use drones against its own citizens on American soil, all of a sudden Rand Paul has become a big deal in American politics. Discussions about him being a player in the 2016 presidential sweepstakes are also being taken seriously — mostly because the Kentucky GOP senator is doing nothing to dissuade such talk.
Paul can also lay claim that he won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend, though the value of that can be disputed. Other winners included his father, Ron Paul, who didn't exactly tally up a lot of delegates in his two runs for the presidency (but did acquire a strong cult following, especially amongst Libertarians, some of whom Rand has inherited).
Paul was the first guest on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, where everything was on the table, including where he stands on same-sex marriage, immigration reform, and why is he so soft on drugs? He's not of course, but he is refreshing because unlike too many others in D.C., Paul is questioning the prison industrial complex in America.
This article appears in Mar 21-27, 2013.