In Iowa, Rand Paul Returns to His Roots

AMES, IowaIn a tour this weekend across central Iowa, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) delivered a trio of wide-ranging speeches heavy on the themes of personal liberty, smaller government, tighter monetary policy and a less bellicose role on the world stage.

It was, in other words, a return to his libertarian roots.

Mr. Paul spoke to three receptive crowds in Des Moines, Marshalltown and Ames, delivering speeches heavy on the libertarian themes that helped propel his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, into the national spotlight during his two presidential runs.

Though Iowa is known more for the power of traditional conservative activists concerned about family values and social policy, Mr. Paul called for a more thoughtful American foreign policy, praised the Obama administration for efforts to reduce the penalties for nonviolent drug users and called formajor new changes to the Federal Reserves banking practices.

In his approach to the state, Mr. Paul is hoping to improve on his fathers two disappointing showings in the first-in-the-nation presidential contest. In 2008, the elder Mr. Paul finished fifth in the caucuses and failed to crack 10% of the vote. In 2012, he improved to third, drawing about 21% of the vote. Social conservative darlings Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, who campaigned on family values,won in 2008 and 2012, respectively.

Mr. Paul has long walked a tightrope between staying true to many of the libertarian principles and ideas that made his father a thorn in the side of the GOP establishment, while trying to grow that coalition to include young people, minorities and other voters typically not inclined to support Republican candidates.

Theres a great opportunity for us to reach out to new people who havent been interested in the Republican message if we are the party that believes in justice; we are the party that believes you are innocent until proven guilty, Mr. Paul told a group of college students at Iowa State, during a speech in which he criticized National Security Agency wiretapping and free-speech zones on college campuses, and hit a variety of other privacy themes.

This weekends trip was on Mr. Pauls terms. He was noticeably absent from the Iowa Freedom Summit last month where nearly two dozen other party leaders, including many potential presidential candidates, showed up to speak to conservative activists. Instead, he came to the state two weeks later, without having to jostle with any other GOP candidates for press coverage, stage time or voter attention.

The Kentucky Republican arrived in Iowa after a challenging week in Washington where he found himself on the defensive over his stance on the safety of vaccinations and whether such inoculations should be mandatory.Mr. Pauls view is that most childhood vaccines should be voluntary, a view that thrilled some libertarian conservatives.He used the trip to further fire up his fathers longtime supporters.

Hes more likely to describe himself as a constitutional conservative than a libertarian, but on Friday he tossed red meat to a constituency near and dear to his fathers heart: the voters who want to bring more transparency to the Federal Reserve. In remarks to an older crowd at a Des Moines winery, Mr. Paul raised concerns about the state of the U.S. currency and pinned the blame on the Fed.

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In Iowa, Rand Paul Returns to His Roots