This article is from the archive of our partner .

Democrats have taken notice of Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.).

Operatives from the Democratic National Committee have spent the last two weeks relentlessly attacking the first-term senator as he's traveled in and out of Iowa, hammering him over everything from scampering away from an undocumented immigrant to contradicting himself on his record on Israel.

Yet those are a few scrapes that Paul will gladly accept, because the Democrats' obsessive focus on him is the clearest sign yet that he's a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

"Most people don't beat a dead horse," Ryan Williams, a Republican consultant and former aide to Mitt Romney, told The Wire. "Sen. Paul has proven he's a legitimate contender for 2016 if he decides to run."

In just the last 10 days, the D.N.C. has blasted out 16 separate emails attacking Paul, who was elected in 2010 and is considered an all-but-declared White House candidates. The missives have accused Paul of distorting his record on Israel, pandering on gay marriage, opposing access to birth control, and "berating" immigrants, among other things.

The Democratic attacks are not unique to Paul; in the run-up to the 2016 campaign, the D.N.C. is keeping tabs on more than a half dozen potential candidates, including Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.), Gov. Rick Perry (Tex.), and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.).

But it is a level of respect they never afforded Paul's father, former Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.), during his runs for the Republican nomination in 2008 and 2012. With a few exceptions, Democrats virtually ignored the elder Paul, treating him as a fringe candidate and bringing up his name only to link more serious contenders to what they considered his extreme views.