LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky officially declared himself a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, promising a crowd of cheering supporters that he is ready to shake up Washington and disprove those in his party who doubt that a libertarian conservative can be a serious contender.
"The Washington machine that gobbles up our freedoms and invades every nook and cranny of our lives must be stopped," Paul told the audience at the Galt House hotel in Louisville. "I want to be part of a return to prosperity."
In a speech outlining his small-government vision for the country, Paul leaned heavily on his biography, describing his experience as an eye surgeon, a career he took up after his grandmother's vision failed. Recalling his own story of living the American dream, Paul scolded both Republicans and Democrats for failing Americans.
"I worry that the opportunity and hope are slipping away for our sons and daughters," Paul said. "As I watch our once-great economy collapse under mounting spending and debt, I think, 'What kind of America will our grandchildren see?'"
He added: "It seems to me that both parties and the entire political system are to blame."
Paul drew loud cheers by criticizing President Barack Obama's surveillance tactics, arguing that the United States has been compromising liberty for a false sense of security. Most Republicans defend the practice as a necessary defense against terrorism, but Paul disagrees.
"The president created this vast dragnet by executive order," he said. "As president, on day one I will immediately end unconstitutional surveillance."
Paul also outlined his positions on economic policy, saying poor cities should benefit from "economic freedom zones" -- or areas with lower taxes. He also suggested that manufacturing jobs could be created by cutting taxes for American companies that return overseas profits to the United States.
Paul also sought to fend off criticism that he is overly isolationist and potentially weak on defense.
"Conservatives should not succumb to the notion that a government inept at home will somehow succeed at building nations abroad," he said. "I envision an America with a national defense unparalleled, undefeatable, and unencumbered by overseas nation building."
Regarding negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, Paul said any deal must be approved by Congress.
"I will oppose any deal that does not end Iran's nuclear ambitions and have strong verification measures," he said. "I will insist that any final version be brought before Congress."
Tom Stewart, a 58-year-old resident of London, Ky., joined Paul's rally Tuesday and counted himself a backer.
"I like that he wants less government," Stewart said. "Less spending. Less intrusion. Maybe less intrusion into everybody's rights around the world."
Cruz praises Paul
Paul, 52, becomes the second Republican to enter the 2016 campaign, after Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Other Republicans considering presidential runs include Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida; Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin; and Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and brother of former President George W. Bush. Republicans say it is perhaps their most competitive and robust slate of candidates since 1980, when Ronald Reagan faced competition from party heavyweights such as George H.W. Bush and Howard Baker.
As Paul made his announcement, Cruz welcomed his senate colleague into the race and praised his talent and passion.
"His entry into the race will no doubt raise the bar of competition, help make us all stronger, and ultimately ensure that the GOP nominee is equipped to beat Hillary Clinton and to take back the White House for Republicans in 2016," Cruz said.
Clinton, who has yet to announce her candidacy, is considered a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In an indirect criticism of some potential Republican rivals, Paul said Tuesday that there is no point in his party nominating a "Democrat-lite" to take on the Democratic nominee.
Paul's brand of politics could make him both an outlier and a target among his rivals in both the Republican and Democratic parties. Unlike most of his fellow conservatives, Paul has argued for reducing federal drug penalties, clamping down on the nation's intelligence agencies and taking a more deliberative approach to military intervention.
On social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, however, he does not stray from the Republican Party line, which puts him at odds with many libertarian voters.
One outside group not connected to any candidate announced that it planned to spend more than $1 million on ads criticizing Paul's positions on Iran sanctions.
"Somebody is worried about me," Paul said in an interview with Fox News. "On my day, when I'm announcing, someone is spending a million dollars."
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement that Paul "says he wants to unleash the American Dream, but the only thing a Paul presidential candidacy unleashes is a massive lurch backwards to failed policies and narrow-minded extremism."
"He says he's something different, but when you take a look, he's the same as any other Republican presidential hopeful: good for the wealthiest few and bad for the middle class and taking positions that are way outside the mainstream on issue after issue," Wasserman Schultz said.
Building a campaign
Paul's political resume is relatively short -- he entered politics with the emergence of the Tea Party movement, winning election to the Senate in 2010, in his first run for office.
But he has built over the past year and a half what Republican strategists say are some of the most extensive political operations in the states that will vote first in the party's nominating process: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
Much of the backbone for those political operations will come from the voters and volunteers who gave his father, former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, a base of energetic support in his unsuccessful bids for the presidency in 2008 and 2012.
But Rand Paul's appeals over the past two years to constituencies including students at black colleges, tech executives, libertarians and establishment Republicans have made it clear that his intention is to seek out a far wider path to the nomination than his father did.
The crowd inside the hotel ballroom, which grew to at least 1,500 Tuesday as Paul prepared to take the stage, was a mixture of young and old, including those familiar and unfamiliar with the Paul family's political legacy. There were people who said they had supported his father in his two presidential campaigns, and there were others who were not even old enough to vote when the younger Paul ran for Senate in 2010.
Kyle Kelly, who is 22 and lives northeast of Louisville in Owen County, said he remembered taking notice of Paul when Kelly was still in high school. He said he admired the candidate's frankness and willingness to reach outside his political comfort zone.
"Whether you agree with him or not, you knew where he stood on the issues. I like that," Kelly said. "He's an honest man. He's reaching out to learn -- not just to gain votes. He truly wants to see every side of the issues."
Paul, who has used an aggressive social media strategy in the run-up to his announcement, showed no sign of changing that approach Tuesday. He scheduled a digital town hall on Facebook after his speech and asked supporters to share photographs of themselves holding "Stand With Rand" signs that his team designed and distributed online.
Paul's planned rollout tour this week illustrates the unusual ideological tilt of his campaign. From Kentucky, where he has lived and practiced ophthalmology in Bowling Green since 1993, Paul will go today to New Hampshire for a town-hall meeting in the small town of Milford, a setting his aides chose to highlight his belief in the virtues of local government.
The next day he will speak near Charleston, S.C., with the aircraft carrier Yorktown as his backdrop. That event will focus on the issue that most sets Paul apart from his Republican rivals: his belief that the United States should be more cautious and restrained in its military engagements overseas.
It is a position Paul will have largely to himself when he squares off against other Republicans, but one that makes him a target of conservatives who say he would weaken the military and undermine national security.
Paul plans to spend Friday at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, a liberal pocket of the state.
Paul hopes to put together a disparate coalition to win the nomination. Some voters he hopes to win over are not even Republicans, such as liberal college students who could be drawn to his views on reining in domestic surveillance and blacks who he hopes will welcome his position on easing drug-sentencing laws.
He also hopes to energize the libertarians who supported his father in 2008 and 2012, and the Tea Party adherents who share Paul's fiscally conservative belief in shrinking the size of government.
"Rand is the closest thing we have to Ron," said Steve Benecek, wearing a T-shirt from a rally Ron Paul held in 2008 as the Republican National Convention happened without him. "If he doesn't get the nomination, I probably won't vote for any Republican."
Ron Paul's strongest support came from young voters in 2012, and early polls suggest this will be Rand's base of support as well.
Primary elections tend to attract older voters, so mobilizing younger supporters is a potential challenge for Rand Paul. But his father's presidential campaign fared well in the first two primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire.
Paul also is leaving open the door to a second term in the Senate. With the backing of his state's senior senator, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he is likely to seek the White House and the Senate seat at the same time.
McConnell, who backs Paul's presidential bid, appeared Tuesday at a business event in Nicholasville, Ky.
"I think we take it one step at a time," McConnell said. "I'm confident if Rand is running for the Senate, he'll be re-elected."
Information for this article was contributed by Jeremy W. Peters, Alan Rappeport, Nate Cohn of The New York Times; by Philip Elliott, Adam Beam, Bruce Schreiner and Calvin Woodward of The Associated Press; by Sam Youngman of the Lexington Herald-Leader; and by David Weigel of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 04/08/2015