Ron Paul, the former presidential candidate and father of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, is expected to stay off the campaign trail once his son throws his hat into the ring in a bid for the White House in 2016.
"Ron's got his own life," Jesse Benton, a member of the Paul family who has been a close adviser to both men, told
The New York Times. "He's got his own stuff going on, and he's not at the beck and call of anyone's campaign — even his son's."
"If the situation arises and Rand asks, I bet he'll do what Rand asks," he added. "But at this point in time, I don't think there are plans for anything all that much."
Ron Paul will, however, be a presence at Tuesday's campaign kickoff in Louisville, and his libertarian supporters will be an important contingent for his son to win.
Nevertheless, Ron Paul is known for making provocative statements that could detract from Rand Paul's campaign.
"Ron Paul is a bomb waiting to go off," Brian Doherty, an author of a book on Ron Paul and a journalist for Reason, told the Times. "It would be silly to do this dual campaign thing, and I think they know it. Ron is going to say things that Rand is not going to want to stand behind."
Since campaigning for his father's 2008 and 2012 campaigns, the younger Paul appears to have moved beyond the libertarian base to try to attract more mainstream Republicans. For a start, he has embraced a more interventionist foreign policy.
"He's not Ron Paul the sequel," Steve Munisteri, a senior adviser who has known Paul since he was a student, according to
The Wall Street Journal. "Working in his dad's campaigns was a great tutorial for him."
Rand Paul appears not to want to discuss the relationship and declined to answer questions about his work for his father, the Journal said.
"We've spent about four years really trying to create an agenda and a platform," the senator said, according to the Journal. "There is plenty for people to judge based on who I am."
As Rand Paul develops a more mainstream persona, he risks alienating his father's political base, the Journal said.
"Rand is clearly drawing a broader group of people," Andy Sanborn, a state senator in New Hampshire who was Ron Paul's state co-chairman in 2012, told the Journal.
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