CREDIT: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia CommonsAfter President Barack Obama
delivers the State of the Union address tonight, the Republican
Party will hand over its (usually thankless) response duties to

alleged GOP savior and widely projected 2016 contender Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-Florida). Then the Tea Party will hand the mic over
to libertarian Republican and widely projected 2016 contender Sen.
Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). The headlines write themselves:

* “Rand
Paul, Marco Rubio duel for soul of tea party in speeches opposing
Obama’s State of the Union“

* “Rubio
and Paul preview possible 2016 showdown in State of the Union
responses“

* “Why
Rand Paul Is Marco Rubio’s Biggest Political Threat“

* “Will
Rand Paul upstage Marco Rubio’s response to Obama?“

And
so on.

CREDIT: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia CommonsHow do these onetime
anti-establishment Class of 2010 Tea Party senators compare?
Looking at their respective high-profile speeches at the 2012
Republican National Convention, Rubio is more likely to stress his
family’s humble immigrant story, remind less recent Americans how
powerful the American dream still is, and say stuff like “almighty
God is the source of all we have.” Paul will probably make more
references to the Constitution, and include Republicans in
at least some of the blame for persistent debt/deficit/spending
since the Tea Party wave of 2010.

The big difference between the two, and what makes any
Rubio/Paul contest interesting (both in terms of the GOP and also
the Tea Party), is foreign policy. Rand Paul may be triangulating
from his father and dressing up his imperial scale-back in the

questionably fitting clothes of Ronald Reagan and George
Kennan, but he rarely passes up an opportunity to tell
Republicans that they need to cut military spending and re-think
open-ended interventionism. Rubio, on the other hand, is more
likely to slam Obama for not being
interventionist enough.

Given that the Tea Party for the most part has studiously
avoided foreign policy disputes, this contest for its sympathies is
genuinely up for grabs. That said, I wouldn’t expect too much on
the subject from either young senator, given the State of the
Union’s likely preoccupation with jobs, spending cuts, and
guns.