text: Opening a door to hedge his political bets, Sen. Rand Paul has asked the leader of the Kentucky Senate for legislation to ensure that Mr. Paul can run both for the White House and for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2016, The Washington Times has learned. 
   
   “Yes, I am working on clarifying an ambiguous state law that Rand Paul believes is unconstitutional if it is interpreted to bar running for re-election to the Senate and for president at the same time,” Kentucky Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer told The Times on Monday. 
   
   “The purpose of the bill will be to make clear that Rand Paul or anyone in a similar situation in Kentucky can run for both offices in the same year,” Mr. Thayer explained. 
   
   If things go Mr. Paul’s way, he could win the GOP presidential nomination, then run in the fall 2016 general election for the presidency and to retain his U.S. Senate seat. If he wins the presidency and the Senate re-election bid, he would relinquish his Senate seat. 
   
   If he loses the presidential election but wins the Senate re-election race, he would become a second-term U.S. senator from Kentucky. 
   
   Since winning his election in 2010, Mr. Paul has argued for creating term limits so members of Congress could serve a maximum of 12 years in each chamber. 
   
   Mr. Paul and his office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday. But in a recent C-SPAN “Newsmakers” program, Mr. Paul said he and his team were looking at the possibility of running for the Senate and the White House simultaneously. 
   
   “We just haven’t come to a conclusion yet,” he said at the time. 
   
   The situation has grown more complicated for Mr. Paul since his election in 2010. His fellow Kentucky Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, faces a serious challenge from the political right in his own party. 
   
   If Mr. McConnell falls to the tea party candidate in the May primary or if a Democrat defeats Mr. McConnell in November, then Mr. Paul would become the senior U.S. senator from Kentucky. As such, he probably would become the recognized leader of his party in the state. 
   
   Fellow Republicans are counting on Mr. Paul to help them keep the state Senate from tipping to Democrats. The Kentucky state House already is controlled by Democrats. 
   
   Democrats have problems of their own in the state, including a sex scandal and accusations of a cover-up. Republicans think they have a shot at taking the House this fall, giving them two of the three power centers in state government. Gov. Steven L. Beshear is a Democrat. 
   
   A veteran Republican Party operative in Kentucky said privately that House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a Democrat, has told colleagues there is no way he would allow such a bill to go through his chamber. 
   
   “I’ve not spoken to the speaker about this and not heard publicly or privately what the Democrats in the House would do if Republicans passed it in the Senate,” Mr. Thayer said. 
   
   Mr. Stumbo did not return a phone call from The Times on Monday. 
   
   Story Continues → ||||| Credit U.S. Senate 
   
   A state Republican lawmaker is considering filing a bill that will permit U.S. Senator Rand Paul to run for re-election in Congress as well as President of the United States. 
   
   Senate GOP Floor Leader Damon Thayer is mulling legislation that would clarify a state law that prohibits candidates from holding or running for two offices simultaneously. 
   
   Thayer says that Paul discussed the issue with members of the Senate Republican caucus earlier this month, when Paul testified in Frankfort in support of a bill restoring felons’ voting rights. 
   
   “He did … bring it up to the entire caucus,” Thayer said. “[He] explained much like I just did the situation in that he is running for the U.S. Senate in 2016, but that he is strongly considering seeking the Republican nomination for President. I hope he does.” 
   
   Thayer denied that the caucus’ consideration of the idea was in exchange for Senate GOP support of House Bill 70, which would automatically restore voting rights for some felons -- an issue that has become a cornerstone as of late in Paul’s remodeling of the GOP brand in an effort to broaden the party’s base. 
   
   Thayer says he will decide whether to file the bill by this Wednesday, when the filing window for introducing bills in the 2014 General Assembly expires. 
   
   Paul, who is rumored to be a GOP frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race, has not officially announced his intention to seek higher office. ||||| Rand Paul's flirtation with running for president is getting serious: he's asking Kentucky's senate to file a bill that would allow him to run for both the U.S. Senate and president in 2016. 
   
   Kentucky's current law says a candidate's name cannot appear on a ballot more than once, which would seemingly force him to choose which office he wants to pursue rather than hedging his bets by running for both. 
   
   State Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer told the Washington Times: "Yes, I am working on clarifying an ambiguous state law that Rand Paul believes is unconstitutional if it is interpreted to bar running for re-election to the Senate and for president at the same time." 
   
   According to WFPL, Paul brought the issue up to the state Senate's Republican caucus last month. 
   
   "He is running for the U.S. Senate in 2016, but that he is strongly considering seeking the Republican nomination for President," Thayer told WFPL. "I hope he does." 
   
   Perhaps not so excited at the prospect are Kentucky's House of Representatives, which is (a very slight) majority Democrat. A "veteran Republican Party operative" told the Washington Times that he won't let the bill pass. 
   
   Should the bill pass, it would be unusual for Paul to run for both Senate and president at the same time. It would also show that he doesn't have much faith in winning the presidency. That said, several people have run for vice president and Congress at the same time, including Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. 
   
   Rand Paul is not reportedly considering a run for the House of Representatives, although if he's going to run for president and Senate at the same time, he might as well go for the hat-trick.
target: – Oh, the difficulties faced by Rand Paul: He's considering running for president in 2016 but would like to run for re-election to the US Senate at the same time, just in case, and he's not sure Kentucky law currently allows him to do so. So he's asked the state Senate majority leader to pass a law ensuring he can conduct both campaigns simultaneously, the Washington Times reports. Current state law says a candidate's name cannot appear on a ballot more than once, the Wire explains. "Yes, I am working on clarifying an ambiguous state law that Rand Paul believes is unconstitutional if it is interpreted to bar running for re-election to the Senate and for president at the same time," the majority leader, Damon Thayer, confirms. "The purpose of the bill will be to make clear that Rand Paul or anyone in a similar situation in Kentucky can run for both offices in the same year." But the Kentucky state House speaker, Greg Stumbo, is a Democrat, and an anonymous Republican Party operative tells the Times that Stumbo has said he wouldn't allow such a bill through the Democrat-controlled House. (How serious is Paul about a presidential run? Thayer tells WFPL that Paul "is strongly considering seeking the Republican nomination for president.")