Rand Paul in Greenville: Debt nation's worst problem

Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul was at the center of a national drama over the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' telephone records when he arrived in Greenville as part of a campaign swing through South Carolina.

Yet when The Greenville News asked the Kentucky senator what his message for South Carolina was, Paul talked about the national debt, not surveillance policy.

Too much debt is the nation's greatest problem, Paul said during an exclusive interview that followed a speech and book-signing at Greenville County GOP headquarters on Wade Hampton Boulevard.

"We borrow a million dollars a minute, and many economists are saying that the debt actually is causing us to lose a million jobs a year," he said. "I don't think we can do this forever."

Washington is "broken" and must be forced to change through constitutional amendments to balance the budget and impose term limits, Paul said.

He also campaigned Friday at Connolly's Irish Pub in downtown Greenville. Before coming to Greenville, Paul stopped in Rock Hill and at The Beacon Drive-In in Spartanburg.

More presidential politics is set to unfold in the Upstate this week, nine months from South Carolina's first-in-the-South presidential preference primary.

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum takes his second White House campaign to Tommy's Country Ham House near downtown Greenville at 1 p.m. Sunday before heading to Travelers Rest at 2:30 p.m. to judge the "Food Truck Bash" in Trailblazer Park.

On Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is expected to make his presidential campaign official during a 10:30 a.m. announcement in his hometown of Central.

Another potential Republican presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, is expected to campaign in Greenville on Wednesday, stopping at Tommy's Country Ham House and walking Main Street with Greenville City Councilwoman Amy Ryberg Doyle, according to state Rep. Phyllis Henderson of Greenville, who said she's been advising Christie's team.

In Washington Sunday, Paul will continue fighting the Patriot Act and its provision authorizing the NSA to collect Americans' phone records in bulk as a way to combat terrorism. The law is set to expire Monday unless congress re-authorizes it.

Paul argues that the law violates Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure.

He filibustered to block its reauthorization – seizing the opportunity from the resulting publicity to raise money – and has vowed to continue the fight when the Senate returns to the controversy Sunday in a last-minute attempt to avoid an interruption.

President Obama and some GOP presidential candidates, including Graham and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, say the program is necessary to keep Americans safe.

One of the Republicans who heard Paul at county GOP headquarters, Karen McManaway of Taylors, said she disagrees with his position on the Patriot Act and doesn't like his non-interventionist foreign policy.

"Honestly, I like a lot of things that he stands for, but I do not like his foreign policy," the 50-year-old lawyer said. "I think that's a big problem for a lot of Republicans."

Another Republican at the event, Mauldin City Councilman Scott Crosby, a 63-year-old analyst and project manager with Baldor Electric Co., said he thinks Paul is right to challenge the NSA program.

The Patriot Act "overstepped the bounds of privacy and the Bill of Rights," Crosby said. "I know what people say in its favor, but I also know it hasn't really done anything to stop terrorism."

Still, Crosby said Republicans' main goal is to win the White House and so far he doesn't think Paul can do it.

"At this point, he's not showing well enough," Crosby said.

He's eyeing Rubio, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and "one or two more."

State Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort, however, wants Paul as president.

Davis accompanied Paul on his campaign swing and told The Greenville News that he thinks the Kentucky senator's message will resonate with independents and Americans uninvolved in politics as well as Republicans.

"I think that's what we need right now, somebody who's going to grow the party and take the White House in 2016," Davis said.