Rand Paul, on the trail and in shorts

My colleague Amy Gardner has a must-read report on Rand Paul's insurgent campaign for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. The most immediately striking thing about it is the photo, taken by The Post's Melina Mara, and splashed across the paper's front page today.

That's Paul in a TV studio, half-suited because he just ran in from his son's soccer game. Expect to see that again if Paul wins -- if photos could speak, this would say "not a politician" at a volume that shatters glass.

From the story, an anecdote of Paul staying on top of the "Greece is the new France" meme:

Paul's campaign stops are feisty affairs at which supporters hoot and cheer as he weaves his personal biography and a list of grievances with Washington into a populist call to arms. The founder of the antitax organization Kentucky Taxpayers United, Paul rails against what he describes as Washington's unsustainable spending, crippling debt, career politicians with no term limits, a "socialist" health-care law and a failure to close the nation's borders to illegal immigrants.

[...]

"Greece is defaulting right now on their debt," he told the breakfast group. "One of the next things you'll see is chaos on the streets. You'll see violence. . . . And it can happen even in America if we're not careful."

Meanwhile, Frances Martel has another take on the glowing TV report about Paul that I spotlighted yesterday.

Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post