With Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's announcement on Tuesday, the GOP now has two official candidates in the 2016 presidential race.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made his announcement last week.
Appearing Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,"
Republican operative Karl Rove said each should concentrate on winning early states that are more likely to reach their respective bases. That's New Hampshire for Paul and Iowa for Cruz.
Both Paul and Cruz come from the tea party wing of the Republican Party that swept into Congress n 2010, but Paul is emphasizing his libertarian credentials while Cruz is focusing on his conservative bona fides.
New Hampshire has open primaries, which means Paul can pull in independents and Democrats since no real contest is expected in the Democratic primary, Rove said.
"There is a chance for him to bring sort of the isolationist, pro-peace, pro-dope, progressive independents into the Republican primary to vote for him," he said.
Cruz, on the other hand, should focus on the Iowa caucuses, where voters identify overwhelmingly as social conservatives and evangelicals.
Regardless, Rove said, any candidate faces a delicate balancing act of attracting a loyal base while also getting a cross section of voters.
"You're going to have to be able to dominate one or two parts of the Republican Party and have sufficient strength in the remaining elements of the party that you can cobble together what ultimately is a majority," he said.
But Paul and Cruz are just the first of 15 or so possible GOP candidates, and figuring out when to get into the race can be hard, Rove said. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is expected to announce next week.
Eventually, the press will tire of giving every candidate a full week of coverage, Rove said.
"The object is get in when you are comfortable and ready to get in," he said. "Do it as soon as possible, but do it when you are ready and have a concrete idea of what your message ought to be."
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