Will Rand a make a stand in Senate cyber fight?

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is a wild card this week as the Senate makes a last-second bid to approve sweeping cybersecurity legislation before leaving for the August recess.

Weeks after the news that nearly 22 million federal workers had their personal information hacked, the Senate is set to consider a bill to boost the exchange of information on cyber threats between the public and private sector. Supporters argue it would greatly improve protections against hackers.

But privacy advocates warn the bill is simply a mechanism that allows the government to get its hands on private citizens’ data. They see it as another intrusive attempt to empower government surveillance programs, and wonder if Paul, a GOP presidential candidate who has made his name fighting over such issues, will take a new stand.

“This is a ready-made moment where people are passionate about the issue and people are getting engaged,” said Nathan White, ‎the senior legislative manager at Access, a digital rights group helping run a viral protest campaign against the bill. “I hope he is taking note of that.”

But Paul has been mum, declining to weigh in on the measure known as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA). It’s led some to wonder why he’s not grabbing the chance to make a splash as his presidential polling numbers stagnate. Since briefly hovering above the 10 percent mark during the NSA fight, Paul has slowly receded to 5.5 percent, according to a RealClearPolitics national average.

“If he were to publicly position himself on this, it would be perfectly timed to the first presidential debate,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican consultant, referring to next Thursday’s inaugural primary clash. “He could really use it to try and punch through the Donald Trump media blackhole.”

Paul has reaped the benefits of a high-profile stand against government surveillance before.

His White House bid got off to a bang in May when he served as the foil to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the heated debate over whether to reform the National Security Agency (NSA).

Paul deployed every procedural tactic available to stymie, stall and prohibit the upper chamber from advancing even the shortest reauthorization of a dragnet NSA spying program that collected phone metadata on American citizens.

He forced the Senate to work late into a Friday night and then return early from a week-long recess for a rare Sunday session, grabbing headlines along the way. Throughout, Paul spent hours on the floor, inveighing against what he described as oppressive and unconstitutional government snooping during a 10.5 hour speech.

Eventually, the Senate approved a bill, the USA Freedom Act, that killed the phone metadata program and added several NSA oversight and transparency provisions. Still, Paul voted against the final measure, arguing it didn’t go far enough.

Only a month after declaring his candidacy for the White House, the Kentucky Republican was suddenly a media darling. He was quick to use the attention to help fill his campaign coffers and strengthen ties with the deep-pocketed Silicon Valley community.

But things have slowed since for the Paul campaign, with business mogul Donald Trump hogging the headlines — and leading the polls.

Privacy advocates and strategists say the cyber debate may be a chance for Paul to reconnect with many of the same grassroots supporters that boosted his campaign during the last surveillance debate.

Paul voted in June against attaching CISA’s language to a defense authorization bill because the maneuver would restrict senators from amending the text. The vote bucked the party line and hinted Paul may have larger concerns about the bill.

“This seems like something he should be getting involved in,” said Access’s White.

Access is part of the broad coalition of civil liberties advocates and digital privacy groups that set up a website this week — stopcyberspying.com — which lets anyone write up and send a fax to senators. As of Friday, over 6 million faxes had flooded the upper chamber’s offices.

A Wednesday “Ask Me Anything” on reddit with the campaign’s organizers spent much of the afternoon on the site’s homepage, boosted by thousands of up-votes.

These are Paul’s potential backers, White said. Of the roughly $7 million Paul has raised his April launch, 85 percent came via contributions of $50 or under, indicating considerable grassroots support.

“I would be very supportive of him using procedural tactics to delay,” White said. “I think he would get a lot of support.”

But in many ways, the cybersecurity fight is not like the May’s NSA scuffle.

For starters, it’s simply not as high-profile. A bill that would strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding has dominated floor time this past week as anti-abortion activists continue to release videos showing organization officials discussing its fetal tissue donation program.

Paul has chosen to prioritize the battle to defund Planned Parenthood, said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist.

“He’s really grabbed that and run with it,” he said.

And while there’s a groundswell of grassroots activity opposing CISA, the major Silicon Valley players have largely stayed out of the debate. Companies like Google and Facebook were vocal adversaries to the NSA in May, but have declined to take a major stance on CISA.

Therefore, a high-profile filibuster attempt might not gain Paul much favor with the tech set, Mackowiak said.

“I don’t think what he does or doesn’t do on the cyber bill is going to change” his relationship with Silicon Valley, he explained.

The ongoing fallout from the catastrophic hacks at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has also generated a sense of public urgency for Congress to act on a cyber bill.

Gumming up the gears in the face of such public pressure is not a clear win for a Republican presidential candidate, Bonjean said.

“You don’t want to alienate those who are concerned about more attacks from overseas or from lone wolfs,” he said. “So it could be a little more complicated than other debates he’s been in.”

The campaign trail schedule may even play against Paul’s ability to contest the bill.

Paul has already committed to a Voters First Forum on Monday night in New Hampshire with nearly every GOP candidate. And the senator will likely be spending time this week on debate prep ahead of Thursday’s tilt.

“This may be a little bit of cynical way to look at it, Mackowiak said. “I don’t know if he’s prepared to spend Monday through Thursday there [in the Senate].”

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is leading the charge in the Senate against CISA. He indicated the movement will be joined by senators on both sides of the aisle.

“A number of Democrats and a number of Republicans have expressed interest to me in amending the bill,” he told reporters on Thursday.

If CISA does come up, all eyes will be on Paul to see if he’s one of those senators.

“He’s certainly the most interesting person to watch in the whole debate,” Mackowiak said.