Paul: 2014 decision on presidential run

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says he won't make a decision until next year about whether to seek the party's nomination for president.

"We won't make a decision until 2014 but I think I do want the party to become a national party again and not lose sight of how we grow as a party," Paul said on "Fox News Sunday." "So I will continue in that vein ... and then we'll decide."

Paul, who was elected in 2010 with strong backing by the Tea Party movement, said he thought the country was ready for a "libertarian Republican narrative" that would help the GOP become a national party.

"We are doing fine in congressional seats but we're becoming less and less of a national party because we don't win on the West Coast, we don't win in New England," Paul said. "We really struggle around the Great Lakes."

He said he thought the country was ready for a party that was a "bit less aggressive" on foreign policy, politicians who won't jail young people "20 years for a non-violent drug position charge" and a party that doesn't want to "round people up, put in camps and send them back to Mexico" as part of an immigration policy.

Paul's father, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, was a three-time presidential candidate vying for the Republican nomination as a libertarian before retiring from Congress at the end of his term in 2012.