It’s practically a campaign-trail cliché: An Iowa interest group or deep-pocketed donor demands an audience of presidential contenders, and the candidates dutifully answer the call, flocking to assorted pig roasts or single-issue summits to test their messages and shake hands with potential supporters.

But not Rand Paul.


The Kentucky Republican was noticeably absent from last week’s so-called Roast and Ride, a rollicking get-together hosted by Paul’s colleague, Sen. Joni Ernst, in Iowa. He turned down an invitation to former Gov. Mitt Romney’s gathering of presidential candidates in Utah this weekend in favor of a swing through Southern California. He skipped last month’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City (and his PATRIOT Act filibuster kept several other senators from attending as well). Earlier this year, he also took a pass on a prominent Iowa agriculture summit and a gathering of White House wannabes hosted by Iowa Rep. Steve King.

While Paul’s rivals for the Republican nomination have ricocheted from one high-profile Iowa gathering to the next, Paul’s been mounting a quieter series of solo events, skipping the impersonal cattle calls to burnish his image as a man untethered from conventional campaigning.

To his critics, it’s a risky strategy that could turn off activists he’ll need in January.

“Sen. Paul needs to do something his dad never could, and that’s grow his base of support,” said Tim Albrecht, a Republican strategist and former aide to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, referencing former Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s three presidential bids. “Ignoring traditional Republicans is not a particularly effective tactic in Iowa, and if he hopes to be successful here, he’s got to engage the grass roots beyond his father’s loyal sycophants.”

But Paul’s campaign is emphatic: Paul’s not against cattle calls — he attended New Hampshire’s First in the Nation Summit in April and is still considering attending the Family Leader’s July 18 summit in Iowa — but the less he shares a stage with his rivals, the more it bolsters his image as an atypical Republican who’s ready to engage segments of the GOP electorate that have long been overlooked.

“While some candidates are limited to group-style events, Sen. Paul is able to engage communities outside of traditional Republican comfort zones,” said campaign spokesman Sergio Gor. “He’s in early states on a weekly basis, but he’s also working on expanding the GOP by showing up in places like UC Berkeley, Detroit and Silicon Valley.”

To some operatives, Paul’s decision to skip big gatherings suggests he’s posturing like a front-runner. “Candidates that consider themselves as front-runners often do that because they don’t want to share the stage with candidates of a lesser stature,” said one veteran New Hampshire operative. “In a state like Iowa — Iowa has a lot of cattle calls. In a state like New Hampshire, we don’t have many … It’s always good to make your own news but at the same time, you need to pay respect to the activists.”

In fact, during Ernst’s event, Paul was traveling in New Hampshire, a three-day swing that followed his efforts in the Senate to block the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. But much of his travel has taken him to states that play a minimal role in selecting the Republican nominee.

While his opponents have congregated at large events, Paul has opted to parachute into often-ignored communities like Irvine, California, and Windsor Mill, Maryland, where Republican audiences are unaccustomed to the presidential campaign treatment.

Paul hinted at his calculus on Tuesday, when he addressed the Baltimore County Republican Party — a group that readily admitted being overlooked by other Republican candidates. “You showed me you can win in Maryland,” Paul said, referencing last year’s election of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. “I think we can win across the country when we become a bigger, more diverse, more inclusive party.”

His gesture was clearly reciprocated by an enthusiastic crowd. “He’s showing up in places where the Republican Party, let’s be honest, we haven’t done a very good job,” said Dan Bongino, who introduced Paul at the event.

It’s not that Paul isn’t deeply aware of the importance of the early states — in fact he may need strong finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire to justify a continued campaign. But appealing to Republicans in blue states and forgotten corners is about a larger strategy of proving his electability in the general election, supporters say, a trait that could influence Iowans.

Steve Sukup, a prominent Iowa supporter of Paul, guessed that a third of Iowa voters will pick a candidate based on electability. “For the third of the Republicans that want somebody who can win in November ’16, showing that you’re willing to get the independent votes and a portion of the swing Democrats — he could do well,” Sukup said.

Sukup said the senator has made up for skipping the big Republican cattle calls with a frenetic schedule of solo events, like an appearance in Davenport with Sen. Chuck Grassley earlier this month.

”The philosophy is to target your audiences, and ones that want to come hear you, those are the ones who you want to solidify for the caucus,” he said. “I think he has a very specific message, and I think it’s going to resonate with enough Iowans that he can bring them to his events instead of doing the mix and match.”

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Even Paul’s critics aren’t sure his unorthodox campaign hurts him among Iowans. “Sen. Paul is one of the most interesting creatures in the world,” said Joni Scotter, a Republican activist who said she won’t be with Paul in the primary but would support him in a general election. “Iowa’s so used to him doing that. But his supporters are the ones that count. They go along with that 100 percent. I think they find it quite intriguing.”

Scotter said she suspected Paul skipped the Ernst event because it would’ve been awkward to come face to face with her so soon after he riled his Senate colleagues by blocking their version of a PATRIOT Act reauthorization.

For now, Paul’s unusual schedule doesn’t appear to be costing him. He still clocks in near the top of the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. He’s got a built-in base of libertarian-tinged support loyal to his father and has spent much of his time trying to reach young minority voters who he’s argued have largely been poorly served by Democrats and overlooked by Republicans.

But the early-state power brokers are watching. Branstad, through a spokesman, hinted that candidates who eschew prominent gatherings in his state do so at their own peril.

“When meeting with candidates, the governor and [lieutenant] governor encourage them to attend as many of the major Iowa gatherings as possible,” said Branstad spokesman Jimmy Centers. “We’ve seen from events like the Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner or U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride that these gatherings afford candidates the opportunity to meet with hundreds of Iowans in one place.”