What Was Really Behind Rand Paul Campaigning in NC for Greg Brannon?

It appears, it was all about the Ron Paul Inc machine directing Rand.

Russ Choma at Open Secrets fills us in:

Last night, North Carolina Speaker of the House Thom Tillis won the Republican primary and the right to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan -- a victory for the GOP establishment, as Tillis easily dispatched outsider Greg Brannon. This morning, pundits not only declared victory for the establishment, but speculated that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who flew down last weekend to campaign with Brannon, might himself be damaged by the loss.

Politico's analysis of the results hinted that Paul's "last minute" involvement in the race might raise questions about his failure to see how far behind Brannon was running.

"The eleventh-hour visit annoyed national Republicans who desperately wanted to avoid a runoff. It also raised concerns about a Paul presidential campaign from some natural allies, who wondered privately whether he had read any of the oppo dumps against Brannon in recent weeks."

But was Paul's involvement with Brannon really last minute? In fact, the people behind Paul and Brannon's respective campaign machinery were virtually one and the same. Paul's campaign appearance for Brannon was just the most visible evidence of the extensive political ties between the two men.

The most obvious link is Virginia campaign consultant and mass mail guru Mike Rothfeld.

Who is Rothfeld? Here's Choma again:

 Known for an unabashedly aggressive and confrontational style of politicking, Rothfeld has played a major part in Rand Paul's politician operations already this cycle. So far in the 2014 election cycle, Paul's campaign and leadership PAC, Reinventing A New Direction(RAND PAC), have spent a combined $2.5 million -- of which nearly half, $1.2 million, has gone to pay Rothfeld's consulting firm, Saber Communications. The payments are not all for consulting; in recent months, Rothfeld handled a massive mail campaign for Paul.

Brannon, it turns out, had a very similar relationship to Rothfeld. His short-lived campaign spent $1.1 million in the cycle, according to campaign finance filings that cover up to April 16, and of that amount, at least $526,000 was paid to Saber Communications for precisely the same kind of work that Saber does for the Paul operation. 

In other words, Rothfeld appears to be the puppetmaster behind Ron Paul Inc.---and he gets paid very well for it.

I have reported on Rothfeld before and discussed Rothfeld with Dennis Fusaro, when Fusaro was a guest on The Robert Wenzel Show. You can find it all here.

The Difference Between Ron Paul & Ron Paul Inc: Dennis Fusaro Explains on The Robert Wenzel Show

What Ron Paul Inc. Really Thinks About Ron Paul Supporters

Could the Shadowy Network of Rand Paul’s Old Fundraising Machine Sink His Presidential Ambitions?