The Rand Paul ?VO?ution: Key to Tea Party Salvation?

Last week, tea party leaders and insiders told Sunshine State News their movement isn't dead, but just getting geared up for victories in 2014 and 2016.

This morning a profile by Politico suggests that the future of the tea party -- and, quite possibly, the Republican Party itself -- might lie in the direction Kentucky senator and libertarian stalwart Rand Paul wants to take it:

"Hell push to loosen marijuana penalties, legalize undocumented immigrants and pursue a less aggressive American foreign policy.

"Call it the Rand Paul Evolution.

"In the wake of Barack Obamas re-election win and ahead of a possible 2016 White House bid of his own, the Kentucky Republican plans to mix his hard-line tea party conservatism with more moderate policies that could woo younger voters and minorities largely absent from the GOP coalition. Its the latest tactic of the freshman senator to inject the Libertarian-minded views shared by his retiring father into mainstream Republican thinking as the party grapples with its future.

"In an interview with POLITICO, Paul said hell return to Congress this week pushing measures long avoided by his party. He wants to work with liberal Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy and Republicans to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for pot possession. He wants to carve a compromise immigration plan with an 'eventual path' to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a proposal he believes could be palatable to conservatives. And he believes his ideas --along with pushing for less U.S. military intervention in conflicts overseas --could help the GOP broaden its tent and appeal to crucial voting blocs that handed Democrats big wins in the West Coast, the Northeast and along the Great Lakes."

{Source: "Welcome to the Rand Paul Evolution"}