After Rand Paul's amendment to the highway funding bill to defund Planned Parenthood was rejected, Paul vowed to continue the fight and force a vote to defund the agency with a discharge petition to bypass committees.
“Since the inhumane acts of Planned Parenthood have surfaced, I have vowed to defeat and defund this taxpayer-funded organization. I am more appalled than ever by Planned Parenthood’s complete disregard for the sanctity of human life,” Paul said in a statement announcing the Senate was using what has become a rather routine process to get the bill on the Senate’s legislative calendar without going through committee.
It now appears that Rand Paul will be granted a vote on the floor of the Senate to begin debate on a bill to defund Planned Parenthood, but a floor debate will not begin because Rand does not have the votes to overcome a filibuster.
It doesn't matter, however, because even in defeat he will be victorious.
Paul, R-Ky., said that win or lose, simply having the vote will be "a huge victory for conservatives" opposed to abortion. [...]
Paul, who has been toward the bottom in public opinion polls on GOP presidential candidates, credited his "persistence" in achieving a Senate vote.
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
It is a very low bar to credit oneself for failing to even initiate a floor debate on a bill.
If the true goal of this was to create a spectacle and regain some presidential momentum, it remains to be seen if he even accomplished that.