Paul reaches out to college voters in Iowa City
Courting young Iowans, Rand Paul brought his pro-liberty message and a selfie station Monday to the steps of the Old Capitol on the first day of his statewide college-town swing.
Paul had to drive himself to Iowa City from Chicago after his flight was delayed, and his campaign tweeted a video en route of the senator listening to the White Stripes in his car before arriving on campus to greet a crowd of about 400 people.
There, students were encouraged to have their picture taken with the Republican senator from Kentucky in a makeshift photo both, then share it on social media after downloading his campaign app to their smartphones. Paul also announced that on Tuesday he will be live streaming his full day of campaigning through Iowa — search #randlive — on his Facebook and UStream.tv pages.
It's clear that Paul is presenting himself to students as "a different kind of Republican," as Alex Staudt, president of the University of Iowa Students for Rand Paul, described him in his introduction.
And judging by the cheers from many in the backpack-wearing crowd, for whom Paul had tailored a speech blasting laws that lock up young people for marijuana-related crimes and the rising cost of education, it was a message that resonated.
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Paul criticized the country's war on drugs, which he said has been led by politicians who themselves have admitted to using illegal substances in their younger days — the past three presidents included. Paul called it the "definition of hypocracy."
"I don't blame the police, but I do blame the people writing the law when they don't realize the rich and wealthy people in the enclaves and the suburbs never get arrested or rarely get arrested," Paul said. "Our prisons are now full of primarily poor people, primarily African-Americans and primarily Hispanics because of the way the war on drugs has gone."
Paul told the students that their generation will be saddled with the burden of the spending of the current generation, from those on the right demanding unlimited spending for the military, to those on the left wanting unlimited spending for domestic welfare.
"This is the question that every generation asks: Will my generation enjoy the same benefits and prosperity my parents did?" Paul said. "I think it's an open question. School is getting more expensive, tuition is going up, loans are going up."
He said "false prophets" like Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator and Democratic contender who has touted free public colleges, merely intend to shift that burden of education costs to other taxpayers.
"There's no free lunch; it just means somebody's paying for it you can't see," Paul said. "Maybe they're a welder, maybe they're a carpenter, maybe they're a plumber, maybe they didn't go to school. Do you really expect they should pay for your school? What we ought to do is figure out why school costs so much, figure out why the cost is so inflated."
Paul said that, essentially, there's a monopoly on education that needs to be broken up to bring prices down — a statement that drew a hearty cheer from the students.
Monday marked the first day of a planned three-day trip through Iowa dubbed by Paul's campaign as the "Iowa 10,000" tour — an effort to sign up more than 10,000 Iowa students committed to caucusing for the senator. The day's first two scheduled stops, at Coe College in Cedar Rapids and Cornell College in Mount Vernon, were canceled because of the flight delays, however.
UI sophomore Claire Wilson, a 19-year-old sophomore, will be voting in her first presidential election in 2016. She said her family had been supporters of Rand's father, Ron Paul, and she was excited to hear the younger Paul speak at her university.
"I enjoyed his speech very much," Wilson said. "I agree very strongly with his thoughts on prison reform. Very Libertarian — I love it."
Anna Hodgson, a graduate student from North Liberty, came with her husband, Joseph, to the rally. The couple said they've already thrown their support behind Paul this election season.
"I appreciate how he talks about a different way of addressing poverty," Anna Hodgson said. "I'm actually in social work, and his ideas appeal to me as more fair, and I think they address the root cause of some of our nation's problems, and I really respect him for that."
Logan Drake, a 19-year-old freshman, has attended numerous candidate appearances this year, including ones by Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal. He said he liked what Paul had to say "much more than I thought I would."
"The general kind of conception of him is this hardcore conservative kind of guy, but he seemed much more middle of the road and reasonable than I had previously thought," said Drake, who considers himself an Independent. "I came around to him."
ABOUT THE EVENT
SETTING: East steps of the Old Capitol at the University of Iowa.
CROWD: About 400 people, mostly students. After Paul's speech, many stood in a line more than a hundred deep to have their photos taken with Paul.
REACTION: Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was a repeated target during Paul's speech. Paul drew cheers when he said, "There is nothing sexy or cool about socialism."
WHAT’S NEXT: This was the first day of a three-day trip to universities and colleges and Iowa. On Tuesday, he's scheduled to appear at St. Ambrose University, Loras College, Upper Iowa University, Wartburg College and the University of Iowa Northern Iowa. On Wednesday, he'll visit Morningside College, Buena Vista University and Drake University.
Reach Josh O'Leary at joleary@press-citizen.com or 887-5415, and follow him on Twitter at @JD_OLeary.