Paul said he wants Republicans 'to be the dominant party again.' Paul: Moderates aren't GOP's future

DES MOINES, Iowa — Rand Paul said Saturday that Republicans need to nominate a different kind of candidate to win the presidency.

“You guys have a strong force here but frankly the president won Iowa twice so we can’t do the same old same old,” the Kentucky senator told the Iowa Republican state convention here. “The definition of insanity is thinking the same thing will get you different results.”


Paul said he wants Republicans “to be the dominant party again,” and noted that he’s been spending time in African-American areas and on college campuses trying to broaden the base. He said talking about the drug war and his emphasis on privacy resonates.

The likely 2016 candidate spent most of his 20-minute speech throwing red meat to the about 1,300 delegates at Hy-Vee Hall.

“There are people who say we need to be more moderate,” he said. “I couldn’t disagree more.”

“I think the core of our message: we can be even more bold,” he added. “When Ronald Reagan won a landslide, he ran unabashedly … that’s what we need … It isn’t about being tepid.”

Before his speech, Paul met with Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst. He opened his speech with jokes about the campaign commercial in which she talked about castrating hogs as a kid on the farm.

“I can tell you the purveyors of pork are shaking in their boots and worried that Joni Ernst will win,” Paul said.

Then he attacked her Democratic opponent, Rep. Bruce Braley, over recorded comments he made at a fundraiser that were critical of the idea the state’s senior senator, Chuck Grassley, could become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee if Republicans win the majority this November. Braley noted in the video that Grassley is a farmer who does not have a law degree.

“I don’t see how Iowa can send us a guy who disparages farming and disparages my friend Chuck Grassley,” said Paul.