Rand Paul Is 'Interested' In 2016 Presidential Run

Senator Paul (R-Kentucky), the son of retiring Texas congressman and three-time unsuccessful presidential candidate Ron Paul, was asked by ABC's Jonathan Karl if he'd run for office in 2016.

“Am I interested in thinking about that? Yes," he said, adding he wants "to be part of the national debate." However. Paul, a Kentucky Senator is not committing to run for the position.

“I am different than some in that I am not going to deny that I am interested,” Paul said. “I’m not going to deny that I think we have to go a different direction because we’re just not winning.”

Paul said the Republican Party should explore new means of expanding its appeal, especially to young people and Hispanics. He also said he supports exploring routes for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship as well as loosening marijuana restrictions and placing them at state levels.

“I think for example we should tell young people, ‘I’m not in favor of you smoking pot, but if you get caught smoking pot, I don’t want to put you in jail for 20 years,’” he said.

“States should be allowed to make a lot of these decisions. I want things to be decided more at a local basis, with more compassion. I think it would make us as Republicans different.”

Paul's father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is slated to retire after 23 years in Congress. He unsuccessfully ran for president twice as a Republican and once as a Libertarian.

“He’s grown the party in a tremendous way,” Paul said. “There’s a sea change on the Republican side and I think my father’s responsible for some of that.”