DES MOINES, Iowa – Ramona Heller walked into the state Republican convention with an impression of Rand Paul largely formed by his father – and it wasn’t good.

As a local party official in a small village outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, she had witnessed firsthand the brash takeover of her beloved GOP in 2012 by the so-called “Paulites” -- the term used to describe supporters of former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas – after his third place finish in the last presidential caucus.

“A lot of the things they tried to do to take over and get in were very unethical,” Heller says.



Diana Soliwon for USNWR

The procedural tactics employed by the Paulites won them control of the party, but left mainstream Iowa Republicans seething and bitter. So when Rand Paul took the dais at the Hy-Vee Convention Center Saturday to address the assembled 2,000 GOP delegates, Heller – a Rick Santorum supporter in 2012 – was prepared to sit on her hands.

“I wouldn’t have even considered him before this morning. He wasn’t even on my radar,” she says.

Instead, her reaction surprised herself.

“Holy shit, I would vote for this guy,” she thought afterward. “Yes, I was impressed.”

Heller’s view of the freshman Kentucky senator reflects an increasingly common one among Republican Party regulars in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. Those who would have never voted for the elder Paul are strikingly intrigued by the son and willing to keep an open mind about his likely 2016 presidential candidacy. They see him as a more mainstream figure, yet one willing to challenge party orthodoxy and take political risk, a posture they welcome.

Among Hawkeye State Republicans, who remain bruised from the last two presidential losses, there is no early favorite. But their mere openness to Paul as their next standard-bearer helps explain the senator’s ascendancy within a leaderless party that’s wrestling with a path back to the White House.

Paul Bissinger, a longtime GOP activist who was on Mitt Romney’s 2012 leadership team in the state, said Paul delivered an impressive performance Saturday that separated him from the day’s other two speakers, Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., and 2012 caucus victor Rick Santorum.



Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks in Iowa Saturday.

Charlie Neibergall/AP

“I asked a number of people, ‘Who was better? The man from Louisiana, the man from Kentucky?’ and invariably, everybody said, ‘The man from Kentucky,’” says Bissinger.

In fact, when Santorum took the stage, a handful of delegates noticeably filed off the convention floor and out into the hallway toward the bathrooms and concession stands.

Bissinger counts himself as an establishment-aligned Republican who “had a hard time” with Ron Paul, but says he “could probably” vote for Rand.

“You wouldn’t think a Romney person would say that,” he says, adding that his favorites remain “the Florida guys,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and former Gov. Jeb Bush.

Barbara Hames, a delegate from Linn County who backed Romney in the 2012 caucus, also found herself drawn to Paul’s overarching message calling for bolder ideas, if not yet completely comfortable with his entire philosophy.

In his speech, Paul appeared well-aware of the provocative nature of his support for scrapping mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders. He prefaced his comments with a warning that his idea “may not bring everybody together.”

That didn’t stop him from raising an issue much more salable to a crowd at the University of California Berkeley than a graying group of Iowa conservatives.



Diana Soliwon for USNWR

While he labeled drugs a “scourge” on society, he explained that the judicial system has unfairly punished young people and minorities for a mistake that’s much more common throughout American society. But he tapped into the audience’s religious inclinations to facilitate his pitch.

“I’m not saying no laws. Most of us are Christians or Jews or of the Judeo-Christian faith. We believe in redemption. We believe in a second chance. Should a 19-year-old kid get a second chance? I think yes,” Paul said. “Let’s be the party that is for extending the right to go back to people who have paid their time, who have reformed their ways.”

Hames says she doesn’t entirely agree with Paul’s stand on drug penalties, but lauded his courage for raising the thorny topic.

“I think it’s good that he can talk about his point of view on that and we can all have a conversation about it,” she says. “He’s always pushing the edge of the envelope with his Republican views, even within the Republican Party and I think that’s a good thing. I’ve talked to a lot of young people who really like Rand Paul’s libertarian point of view and I think that kind of foretells where the next generation’s going to go.”

A Paul candidacy in Iowa would begin as a potent force given that most strategists assume he would inherit most of his father’s base, which represents about one-fifth of the party. In his three visits to Iowa over the last year, Paul has been working to build on that foundation of support and court establishment and evangelical-aligned caucusgoers.

“There’s no question he’s a viable potential candidate for the presidency. He’s a different candidate than his father in that he’s broadening the base of his party and he’s giving it a broader look than Ron did,” says Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

“He’s one of the leaders right now,” asserts William Matthews, a GOP delegate and Romney voter in 2012.

But the Paul legacy in the state remains a double-edged sword for the senator.

While Gov. Terry Branstad’s political operation successfully orchestrated a plan to wrest back control of the party apparatus from the Paulites earlier this year, the wounds from 2012 remain raw. Romney supporters are still sore about the fact that the most fervent Ron Paul backers continued to oppose Romney even after he had the nomination locked up. Fair or not, Rand now shoulders some of that fallout.



Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, right, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talk at the convention Saturday.

Charlie Neibergall/AP

“I think he’s got a long way to go to fix the mistakes that his dad caused during the campaign,” says Luke Martz, Romney’s 2012 field director in the Hawkeye State. “It was just unproductive. If he wants to be president and run a serious campaign, I think he can, but he’s got to mend some bridges.”

While Paul’s relationship with Branstad isn’t necessarily warm, it’s publicly cordial. They huddled on Saturday and Branstad hosted Paul for breakfast on a previous occasion, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting.

“Every time I’ve come here Gov. Branstad’s been very gracious to me, he’s had me over at the Capitol. He’s always been very friendly to me,” Paul told reporters.

The recent move of former state party chair A.J. Spiker into Paul’s political camp could help relieve some tension, given the animosity Spiker stirred among rank-and-file party members.

“It’s better to have A.J. be part of our team,” a Paul aide insists.



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Additionally, Paul has now been invited to Romney’s Park City, Utah retreat twice and trekked to Boston in April to huddle with Romney’s political fiefdom. Simply appearing with Romney should help alleviate lingering acrimony among factions in the Hawkeye State, the Paul aide argues.

On this trip, Paul received requests for future events from Senate candidate Joni Ernst and congressional candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks and he’s already committed to returning to the state for three days in early August.

His challenge will be enlisting some of Iowa’s establishment Republicans to work on his behalf and vouch for him, without alienating his father’s libertarian coalition.

It’s a balancing act he’ll be forced to perform beyond Iowa and will largely determine whether he’ll be able to achieve greater electoral success than his dad.

Heller, who still feels burned by her experience with Ron Paul’s forces, stands ready to give Rand the benefit of the doubt.