Jennifer Jacobs

jejacobs@dmreg.com

Rand Paul, the national GOP front-runner in the 2016 race for the White House, will tour Iowa from end to end next week, testing his attractiveness to voters in every congressional district here.

After three quick toe-dips into the presidential waters of Iowa in the last year, the U.S. senator from Kentucky is going all in, road-tripping to a slew of party events and candidate events from Aug. 4 to 6 to gauge how well he can turn out a crowd here.

Paul, who has said he won't make up his mind on whether to run for president until the first few months in 2015, has a tenuous lead nationally over the potential GOP presidential pack. He's followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, according to HuffPost Pollster.

But in Iowa, Huckabee is the apparent front-runner, followed by Bush, Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan and then Paul, the Real Clear Politics polling average shows.

Still, Iowa is familiar territory for Paul after campaigning here for his father, former Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, during his presidential campaigns. Even as Mitt Romney was in Florida in August 2012 to officially accept the GOP presidential nomination, the younger Paul was working the Iowa delegation during a speech at one of its meetings.

During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Paul has already been in Iowa three times — for the Republican Party of Iowa's annual Lincoln Dinner in Cedar Rapids in May 2013; to speak to Christian conservative pastors at an American Renewal Project event in Des Moines in July 2013; and, last month, to address the GOP state convention.

Next week, Paul will cruise in a Ford Expedition through every major media market in Iowa, with some of his closest political advisers tagging along

One of the stops is a tour of the headquarters of the Davenport-based Von Maur department store chain. The company's president, Jim Von Maur, a prominent leader in the Quad Cities, was a major donor to Ron Paul.

Rand Paul will help open new GOP victory offices in Cedar Rapids, in the second-largest county in the state, and in Sioux City. He will also pop by the Davenport, Council Bluffs and Urbandale victory offices, which are already open and doing work for multiple Republican candidates.

He will help raise money for U.S. Rep. Steve King, who requested the fundraiser take place in Okoboji, a lakeside resort community that attracts plenty of tourists to the 4th District but doesn't often see candidate visits, and for 2nd District congressional candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a fellow ophthalmologist.

He'll connect with David Young, the 3rd District congressional candidate and former chief of staff to Iowa's U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, and the 1st District congressional candidate, Rod Blum. Young has ties to the Paul team. Years ago, when Young worked for then-U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Paul's current chief of staff worked for Young.

And Paul will spend time with other statewide elected officials and candidates, including Gov. Terry Branstad.

The Iowa trip is part of a Senate recess itinerary that's packed with political events, plus a week of charitable work, that will be certain to keep Paul in the public spotlight, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported last week.

Paul gave what he considered a major speech at the National Urban League Conference on Friday in Cincinnati on issues he hopes will win over new voters to the GOP. He's at the Young Americans for Liberty national convention in Virginia on Wednesday, in Kentucky over the weekend, in Iowa Aug. 4-6, in Guatemala mid-August to perform eye surgeries free of charge, then in South Carolina, the state that votes third in the nation on the presidential lineup, on Aug. 25.

PAUL'S IOWA ITINERARY

Here's his three-day Iowa schedule, according to Sergio Gor, the spokesman for Paul's political action committee.

Monday, Aug. 4

12:30 p.m., GOP's Council Bluffs Victory Office, 231 S. Main St.

3 p.m., GOP's Sioux City Victory Office, 2526 Glenn Ave.

6:30 p.m., fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Steve King at the Barefoot Bar, 24457 178th St., Okoboji

Tuesday, Aug. 5

8 a.m., Cerro Gordo GOP fundraiser, Mason City Airport Restaurant, 9184 265th St., Clear Lake

10:30 a.m., GOP's Cedar Rapids Victory Office, 1340 Blairs Ferry Road, Hiawatha

Noon, fundraiser for congressional candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks, University Club, 1360 Melrose Ave., Iowa City

2 p.m., tour of the Von Maur corporate headquarters, speech and news conference, 727 Veterans Memorial Parkway, Davenport

3 p.m., GOP's Davenport Victory Office, 311 W. Kimberly Road

Wednesday, Aug. 6

7:15 a.m., Westside Conservative Club Breakfast, Iowa Machine Shed Restaurant, 11151 Hickman Road, Urbandale

8:30 a.m., GOP's Des Moines Victory Office, 2775 86th St., Urbandale.