How Rand Paul Supporters Provided Awkward Backdrop for Ted Cruz’s 2016 Announcement

— -- Sen. Ted Cruz no doubt wanted everything to be just right for his official presidential roll-out today at Liberty University in Virginia.

He even went to the trouble of practicing everything from his wave to a kiss with his wife on Sunday.

Enter a group of Rand Paul supporters.

Several students wearing “Stand With Rand” shirts made their way into seats directly behind Cruz on stage this morning. The students' shirts were blurry yet visible in many of the shots during Cruz’s speech.

The “Stand With Rand” campaign was launched by Sen. Rand Paul’s team during his filibuster of U.S. drone policy in the spring of 2013. Paul’s filibuster lasted 13 hours and was the longest in recent memory. That is, until Cruz stood on the Senate floor for more than 21 hours to discuss defunding Obamacare in September of the same year.

Cruz is the first Republican presidential candidate to officially announce his candidacy.

Paul is still in the exploratory phase of his campaign, but reports say he could officially declare his candidacy early next month.