Rand Paul to court young voters at first official campaign rally in Iowa

Republican Rand Paul is making it clear that appealing to young people will be a hallmark of his presidential campaign.

Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky, is scheduled to jump into the 2016 race in his home state on April 7 then embark on a whistle-stop tour of the early voting states of New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada.

The site for the first Iowa event of his official campaign: the campus of the University of Iowa. The choice of a venue in the heart of liberal Iowa City also sends the message that Paul doesn't intend to stick to safe, conservative-friendly parts of the state.

Aides told The Des Moines Register Tuesday morning that the "historic" Paul event will be 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on April 10 at the Iowa Memorial Union, 125 N. Madison Ave. in Iowa City.

Polling shows Paul, 52, already has traction with younger Republican voters in Iowa. He was the first choice for president for those under age 45, according to a late January Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll of likely GOP caucusgoers.

When his father, then-U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, ran for president, the elder Paul did at least three events in Iowa City in the 2012 cycle alone, Register records show.

Rand Paul isn't the only Republican in the 2016 lineup to court voters in Iowa City – Rick Perry did an event at the Melrose Club in Iowa City, Rick Santorum did one at the GOP victory center and Carly Fiorina was at the Hamburg Inn, the Register's 2016 tracker shows. But Paul will be the first Republican of the 2016 to go onto the university campus, where there's no shortage of hard-left activists willing to protest at GOP rallies.

Earlier this year, Paul tested the waters in Ames, Iowa's other major college town, where he a fundraiser attended by about 40 Republicans, took in half a men's basketball game and spoke to about 40 college Republicans at an Iowa State watch party.