Rand Paul courts college students

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul was back in Iowa on Friday to woo college students whose heads haven’t been turned by celebrity and “dreams of Santa Claus and offers of free stuff.”

About 450 people, mostly students, attended Paul's speech at Iowa State University's Memorial Union.

Paul, a Kentucky Republican who is running for president, has been making a push to organize college students. But polls in Iowa and elsewhere show young voters leaning toward Donald Trump, a reality-show star.

Paul said that will fade. “Polls are somewhat skewed by celebrity at this point. I think that will die down once people realize that Trump is a fake, you know, and not really what he says he is,” Paul said in a phone interview before he arrived in Iowa.

Paul has been an aggressive critic of Trump, including in the last presidential debate. He said he’s not letting up on that. “Absolutely, I will continue to point out that Trump is not really a conservative but that he’s fake,” Paul said. He said Trump has been on the opposite side of conservatives and the tea-party movement on Obamacare, the government stimulus, the bank bailout and taking private property through eminent domain.

During his speech, he also took aim at GOP rival Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida. Paul said Bush has admitted trying marijuana in college, but he wants to jail people who want to obtain medical marijuana. "I hate hypocrisy," he said.

He said when it comes to issues, most people under 40 are on his side in believing the Obama administration’s collection of private telephone records has violated privacy rights. “I’ve been the leading voice in saying you do have a right to be left alone and you do have a right to privacy,” he said in the interview.

Matt Hubbard of Rosemount, Minn., graduated from Iowa State last year and was back for Saturday’s football game. He said he’s a libertarian and appreciates Paul’s fiscal conservatism. But he wouldn’t say no to Hillary Clinton’s idea of allowing the refinancing of student loans “since I just graduated.”

Paul, in the interview, brushed aside promises from candidates such as Democrat Bernie Sanders of free college for everyone. “Dreams of Santa Claus or offers of free stuff are going to be appealing on the surface, but there are going to be students who are going to think a little bit more deeply and say, ‘Oh really. Tell me who is really going to pay for it,’” Paul said.

He also encouraged voters to consider the history of socialism. Sanders calls himself a “democratic socialist,” but Paul notes that socialistic societies are far from democratic. “Socialism isn’t sort of benign or sexy or cool,” he said. “Socialism is only enforced ultimately at the point of a gun.”

During a question-and-answer session after the speech, Paul was asked about college affordability. He said he would allow people to deduct their college loans from their taxes once they graduate. "This is different from just giving you the money," he said.

The trip is part of a “Students for Rand” campus organizing effort that Paul’s campaign says has already established 16 chapters in Iowa and 300 nationally.