Paul’s dilemma is trickier: Kentucky’s election laws are more restrictive than those in Florida. Under current law, the tea party freshman would need to file for one office by late January 2016. He could try some maneuvering to circumvent the restriction, though that could open him up to litigation or political blowback.

Rubio has more breathing room: He could wait to see whether he’s crowned the party’s nominee at the Republican National Convention before abandoning his Senate bid. But if he were to lose in November, he couldn’t go back to the Senate.

In a recent interview, Paul declined to discuss the legal hang-ups facing an increasingly likely presidential run.

“We haven’t made any official decisions on what or how we’ll do things — until 2014,” Paul told POLITICO…

“You’ve done more research on it than I have,” Rubio said in an interview. “I haven’t even thought about it, to be honest with you. I’m pretty busy here on a full-time basis. … My term ends in 2016 and sometime before that, I’ll have to decide whether to run for reelection, or run for something else or not run at all. … There’s plenty of time between now and then; a lot is going to happen.”