Rand Paul: ‘I’m running for president in 2016’ (Video added)

As of today, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) announced his intention to seek the presidency in 2016. After delivering a formal announcement speech (video as soon as it’s available) in Louisville, Kentucky, Paul will embark on a tour of early primary states spreading his campaign message.

Report from CNN:

Louisville, Kentucky (CNN)For Rand Paul, it’s all led to this moment.

Since riding the tea party wave into the Senate in 2010, Paul has carefully built a brand of mainstream libertarianism — dogged advocacy of civil liberties combined with an anti-interventionist foreign policy and general support for family values — that he bets will create a coalition of younger voters and traditional Republicans to usher him into the White House.

The test of that theory begins Tuesday when the Kentucky senator makes official what has been clear for years: He’s running for president.

“I am running for president to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government,” Paul said on his new website.

A formal announcement will come at a rally in Louisville and he’ll immediately hit the campaign trail, swinging through New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada — the states that traditionally vote first in the primaries and caucuses.

As noted, Paul will formally announce today during a speech at 12pm ET from Louisville, Kentucky. Once his remarks are complete, I’ll bring you the full video here. Stay tuned…

Update

Watch the announcement entire video of Rand Paul’s campaign announcement speech below:

Report from the UK Daily Mail:

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul told a raucous crowd in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday that he will build his presdiential campaign on ‘a message that is loud and clear, and does not mince words: We have come to take our country back.’

He will blast ‘special interests that use Washington, D.C. as their personal piggy bank’ if he wins the White House, Paul promised a cheering, packed ballroom.

‘The Washington machine,’ he said, ‘must be stopped.’

Paul’s official announcement Tuesday that he would run for president in 2016 came at the beginning of what observers are already calling an unconventional campaign.

Donors and family members of Paul campaign insiders said Monday night at a pre-launch party that the ‘wild card’ senator would surprise much of the political establishment by being an ‘un-candidate’ who turned traditional campaign wisdom on its head.

He took aim at Republicans along with Democrats on Tuesady, saying ‘both parties and the entire political system are to blame’ for dwindling freedoms in America.

‘Big government and debt doubled under a Republican administration, and it’s now tripling under Barack Obama’s watch,’ he said.

It was a speech that touched on several key issues. Paul spent time illustrating his devotion to minority issues such as sentencing reform and equal justice, as well as hitting red-meat conservative issues like excessive taxation and unleashing the economy.

Any thoughts on Paul’s speech? Leave them below..