Rand Paul: 'This Debate Isn't Over'

Rand Paul recounts his 13-hour filibuster in the Washington Post today, writing that while he didn't set out to speak that long ("I would've worn more comfortable shoes"), he's not going to shut up about US drone strategy now. "This debate isn’t over," the senator writes. He wants President Obama to state definitively that the US will not kill American noncombatants, apparently unsatisfied with Eric Holder's two-sentence letter on the subject. "The Senate has the power to restrain the executive branch—and my filibuster was the beginning of the fight to restore a healthy balance of powers."

Paul thanks the senators who helped him prolong the filibuster, along with the House conservatives who showed up to provide moral support. He singles out the moment that Sen. Mark Kirk brought him tea and an apple—"the same sustenance Jimmy Stewart brought to the Senate floor in the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"—as one he won't soon forget. Paul doesn't do much to tamp down talk of a 2016 run, either. "I believe the support I received this past week shows that Americans are looking for someone to really stand up and fight for them," he writes. "And I’m prepared to do just that." Click for his full column. (More Rand Paul stories.)