Freshman Sen. Rand Paul is pretty savvy. The Kentucky Republican more than doubled his Senate paycheck before his first day in office.

Last November, Paul signed a contract with Center Street Publishing for his book “The Tea Party Goes to Washington.” According to his financial disclosure forms, Center Street awarded Paul $180,000 in “advance royalties as stipulated in contract.” Currently, Senators and Representatives make a respectable $174,000 a year.

The book, which details the effect of the tea party movement, was released in February to fabulous Amazon reviews, including a blurb by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

In the book, “Rand Paul and those who voted for him want [the federal government] to stop borrowing, end the bailouts, and entitlements and the spending,” or so says the Amazon product description.

(But … um, wait, isn’t a book advance just a loan borrowed against future book profits?)

Paul’s father, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), gave free copies of the book to every Member of Congress.

In March, Paul the Younger was a speaker at the Night of the Rising Stars event in Iowa. The Senator was not running for president, nor was he pushing his father’s presidential campaign, rather he was just another author pushing his book.

His spokesman told Roll Call that Paul would be also be “talking about what the tea party is looking for in 2012.”

We imagine part of what Paul’s publishers will be looking for is more sales.