Rand Paul Announces He's Running For President

Rand Paul announced his bid for president Tuesday morning on his campaign website.

On the web page, Paul wrote, "I am running for president to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government." The Kentucky senator has already begun asking his supporters for donations to help his cause, too.

His political action committee sent a long email imploring supporters to contribute anywhere from $10 to $500 for a "Stand With Rand Money Bomb." Paul has used this fundraising technique in the past to collect small-dollar donations online from grassroots supporters.

"The media tells us -- if our Republican Party has any hope of defeating Hillary Clinton -- you and I should choose a nominee with a track record full of sellouts, compromises and Big Government betrayals. So even though I'm at or near the top of every state poll for the nomination, they continue to try and dismiss my message of liberty and limited government!" the appeal reads.

Paul is expected to formally launch his White House bid at an event in Louisville, Kentucky Tuesday afternoon. The announcement has been expected for weeks, and Paul spent the early part of the week converting his campaign-in-waiting to an actual campaign.

Monday evening, he changed his Twitter handle from @SenRandPaul to simply, "@RandPaul,"a likely attempt to distance himself from Washington in keeping with the themes of his campaign.

"The truth is, I'm the kind of top-tier candidate our media has not seen in years. I'm not a career politician. I haven't spent my entire life in government quietly preparing to run for President," the fundraising appeal says. He goes on to say that he was "perfectly content" living life as an opthamologist in Kentucky, "until I saw politicians in Washington, D.C. betraying our Constitution and ignoring their constituents at every turn."

His announcement already has some detractors. A group called the Foundation for a Secure & Prosperous America announced Tuesday morning that they will spend $7 million on an ad campaign that accuses Paul of endangering the U.S. by supporting the framework nuclear deal with Iran being negotiated by the Obama administration.