Tonight in Washington, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) will host a fundraising reception and dinner for Rand Paul. Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, will co-host the event. CNN reports that ten GOP senators and nine GOP House members are part of the welcome committee. Paul, of course, beat Trey Grayson, McConnell’s preferred candidate, in last month’s GOP Senate primary in Kentucky. Last night, Paul raised money at a low-key fundraiser hosted by Sen. Jim Bunning (R., Ky.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas), his father. Dave Weigel has more:

Paul also criticized Republicans who voted for TARP, and thanked Bunning for opposing it. That led the Post’s Felicia Sonmez and me to ask why Paul had decided to accept support from the senators who supported it.
“I think the Republican Party, as you’ve seen, after the new administration came in, has been fairly unified in saying no more bailouts,” said Paul. “And even some who voted for it will quietly say I don’t think it was a good vote, and I might not have done it again. Some still say we don’t know what would have happened, it would have been calamity if they didn’t do it. I don’t think they’re bad people — I disagree on the vote but we disagree on a lot of things.”
Paul emphasized that by accepting the support of pro-TARP senators, like Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), he had not changed his stance on the issue.