Comments by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that he would be "honored" to be considered for vice president if Mitt Romney is the GOP nominee set off an instant brushfire on the Internet.
"This explains a lot," wrote "the Daily Caller's" Matt Lewis, pointing to the much-remarked upon friendly relationship between Paul's father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Romney, both presidential candidates.
HuffPost's Sam Stein wrote: "The Texas Republican has refused to attack Romney during televised debates. He's also devoted a considerable portion of his vast campaign resources to television ads that undermine Romney's opponent of the week, from Rick Perry, to Newt Gingrich, to his latest foe, Rick Santorum."
Rand Paul's remark was treated as circumstantial evidence that there is some sort of agreement between Romney and Paul's father, with Romney promising some sort of reward to Paul for his unofficial and unstated alliance.
But Rand Paul's chief of staff, Doug Stafford, told HuffPost late Wednesday that there was no there there in his boss' comment.
"The senator was answering a question posed to him by the media. His father is running for president, and since no one has won even 20 percent of the delegates needed to win, he is a contender for the nomination," Stafford said in an email. "If he does not win and the eventual winner wishes to consider Senator Paul for the VP spot, of course he would be honored. Why wouldn't someone consider it an honor to be asked to run for the second-highest office in the country?"