Amid the heartrending story of Sen. Rand Paul’s run-in today with the Transportation Security Administration is a tale about a father coming to the rescue of his son, and America, and getting in a couple of plugs for the old presidential campaign.

For those of you away from the Twitter machine this morning: Shortly before 10 a.m., the Kentucky Republican’s communication director Moira Bagley — a former Roll Caller — sent up the bat signal, tweeting that Paul was “currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.”

Except, well, maybe not. Sounds like Paul was just being treated like the rest of us.

“When an irregularity is found during the TSA screening process, it must be resolved prior to allowing a passenger to proceed to the secure area of the airport,” TSA spokesman Greg Soule tells HOH. “Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process cannot be granted access to the secure area in order to ensure the safety of others traveling.”

Paul, en route to Washington, D.C., was told a pat-down was necessary because the body scanner found an “anomaly,” according to Bagley. Paul offered to go through the scanner again but was told that a body pat-down was necessary. He was escorted out of the screening area after refusing to submit to the pat-down, according to a source familiar with the incident.

This source said Paul was not “detained” at any point and that the Senator booked another flight and was rescreened “without incident.”

Not one to sit idly by, the Senator’s father, Rep. Ron Paul, launched into action and used the event to talk about his presidential candidacy.

“The police state in this country is growing out of control. One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities. The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe,” the Texas Republican said in a statement released by his campaign.

“That is why my ‘Plan to Restore America,’ in additional [sic] to cutting $1 trillion dollars[sic] in federal spending in one year, eliminates the TSA. We must restore the freedom and respect for liberty that once made American the greatest nation in human history. I am deeply committed to doing that as President of the United States.”

Thanks, Dad. I’m fine.

David Drucker contributed to this report.