Does the GOP have a Rand Paul problem?

A win by Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist, would represent the first true electoral success of the tea party movement. Equally important, it would embarrass Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose political organization is running Grayson’s campaign, thrust onto the national stage a Republican with foreign policy views out of the conservative mainstream and, strategists in both parties believe, imperil the GOP’s hold on the seat now held by retiring Sen. Jim Bunning.

Recognizing the threat, a well-connected former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney convened a conference call last week between Grayson and a group of leading national security conservatives to sound the alarm about Paul…

Unlike his father, Paul is no ideological purist.

Even as he’s criticized for being outside the GOP mainstream, he’s moving swiftly to reposition himself and, in an interview with POLITICO, testily disputed the notion that he is a dove.

“I don’t believe in closing down Gitmo,” Paul said. “And I don’t want to try terrorists in civilian courts. I want to try them with military tribunals.”