A CPAC history lesson: How Rand Paul could be like Ronald Reagan

1. Winning CPAC once meant little, but are Rand Paul’s multiple wins just the ticket?

Rand Paul won his third consecutive CPAC presidential straw poll this weekend, and most political journalists yawned — and understandably so.

There have been 20 previous CPAC straw polls, and only in four of those cases has the winner ended up as the Republican presidential nominee. And in all four of those cases, it was in the actual election year.

Never has a winner in the year before the presidential vote — like this year — gone on to win the nomination. So Sen. Paul shouldn’t rush to measure the White House drapes.

But he is now in special company: He’s in a tie for CPAC wins (three) with Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. Mitt Romney is the all-time leader with four CPAC wins. Ron Paul has two.

So department workers still have to prepare and sort out whether they would have to work — or would be furloughed — in the event funding expires.

Ed O’Keefe of The Washington Post gave us a glimpse at the contingency planning, obtaining a memo sent to relevant workers as it appeared Congress might not reach even a temporary deal before the Friday night deadline.

“Buried deep in there on page 23— a little note to the 15% of DHS workers who might have been furloughed: you can check your email but you cannot hit reply,” said O’Keefe. “You were allowed to check for the status of the furlough but to hit reply or to engage anyone on email might result in severe penalties.”

“So you would get paid after a shutdown, but you weren’t allowed to check your email. Perhaps a silver lining to the possibility of the shutdown.”

CNN