Advertisement Paul upbeat over uptick in WMUR poll; hits Trump, Cruz ‘We’re surging at just the right time,’ Republican says during restaurant stop Share Shares Copy Link Copy

As he made his way through the typical lunchtime full house at one of Manchester’s most popular restaurants, an upbeat Rand Paul was not about to concede anything regarding his chances in the first-in-the-nation primary.Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky, during a stop at the Puritan Backroom, appeared buoyed by his showing in this week’s WMUR/CNN New Hampshire Primary Poll.The poll showed that with an uptick since December, he is now tied with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for fourth place in the GOP presidential lineup.He’s still at 6 percent -- not exactly a windfall of support. But Paul said, as he has maintained throughout the campaign, that there is a hidden vote for him that simply does not show up in polling, not to mention what he and his campaign staff feel is the best ground game in the Republican race.“We’re surging at just the right time,” Paul told WMUR.com.Paul said New Hampshire and Iowa voters who supported his father in 2012 are not typical respondents to polls.“I think the Ron Paul voters are not being polled,” he said. He said that four years ago, prior to the Iowa caucuses, Ron Paul received the same 6 percent in a Des Moines Register poll, but ended up with the support of 21 percent of caucus-goers.Rand Paul said his support in New Hampshire could be 10 percent to 15 percent higher than the percentage at which he is currently polling.“They’re also not getting the student vote,” he said. “Students are on cell phones. They don’t answer phone calls that they don’t want to answer. I have yet to meet a college student who has been polled.”“So I think we’re being underestimated,” Paul said. “I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people.”Paul would have none of a suggestion that the New Hampshire primary will be his last stand, his firewall.“We want to do well everywhere,” he said. “I grew up as an athlete. I swam competitively in college. We go to win everywhere. That’s all I can think of. Right now, we just want to do the best we can and we are in it to win it in Iowa and New Hampshire.”Paul also hit GOP front-runner businessman Donald Trump and top challenger U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.Trump’s problem, Paul said, “is that he’s a fake conservative. I don’t think he’s a conservative at all. He’s using us.”“He has sort of a hodgepodge of populism, but I don’t think he is somebody who is truly for limited government,” he said. “He wants power. He wants to be this powerful president who is going to fix things. But many of us who support the limited government tradition, we think that power corrupts.“We want a small constitutional government, and I think those who are true conservatives will ultimately reject Trump as not being a conservative.”Cruz, he said, has a problem with “authenticity.”“Ted abandoned us on the ‘audit the Fed’ vote. On the NSA, he said he was against the government collecting records, but then he also says he’s for the government collecting 100 percent of your cellphone records. Which is it?”“Particularly the liberty movement voters are questioning his authenticity.”Paul said his message has not changed since he became a candidate in the spring of 2015.“I think I’m the only conservative in the race,” he said. Cruz and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio “are for unlimited military spending. That’s not conservative at all.”He also said, “If you do carpet bombing in the Middle East, you’ll create more terrorists than you’ll kill. (Cruz) is not offering anything new. He’s offering something we have been doing for decades.”Paul spent an hour going booth-to-booth at the landmark restaurant. Owner Chris Pappas, a Democratic executive councilor, said about a dozen candidates have been through the restaurant greeting patrons so far in the campaign. The Puritan Backroom is a ‘must stop’ on the presidential campaign trail, and Pappas welcomes candidates of both parties.Paul told one interested diner that his plan to lower education costs allows college graduates to deduct interest and principle on their college loans throughout their working careers.“What happens now is if your parents make more than $60,000-a-year, which is not rich, then you can only deduct interest and there’s a limited window,” he said.He said Democrat Bernie Sanders’ plan to have some taxpayers foot the bill for free college tuition would force those who do not go to college to pay for those who did attend college.“Nothing is free,” Paul said.