“Not the candidate,’ but Kelly Paul’s stories speak to husband, Rand’s, conservative values

CEDAR RAPIDS - 'I'm not the candidate,” Kelly Paul says unapologetically about her campaign trail appearances that involve very little politics or policy.

She knows people are interested in the plans her husband, 2016 GOP presidential hopeful Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, has for the country.

'I think people are really hungry for that message that is one of liberty, more freedom, less government intervention and looking at trying to enlarge the debate to bring more audiences to our party with a message that big government affects everyone,” Paul said during a stop in Cedar Rapids Wednesday.

'If you really want to hear Rand, you can go to the website, you can hear his speeches, him talking about his message. I'm not trying to be Rand,” she said.

That's about as political as Paul got during 20 minutes of remarks and question-and-answer with about 15 people who gathered at the Blue Strawberry Coffee Co.

When she began campaigning for her husband when he ran for the Senate and now for the GOP nomination, Paul tried to deliver the 'typical Republican campaign-style stump speech.” She realized that her audiences had heard it before.

'You're preaching to the choir,” Paul said.

She's found that storytelling is as more effective way of 'sharing who you are and where you come from.”

The stories are not overtly political. Paul mostly talks about her grandmother, who at the age of 19 came to the United States from Ireland in 1929. She had a career as a maid to a wealthy New York woman. Paul's book, 'True and Constant Friends,” gets its title from the way her grandmother described her relationship to her employer.

Her grandmother, Paul explained, was one of her earliest sources of love and inspiration, and fostered her sense of joy, independence and courage as well as many of the values she has carried into her adult life.

Paul thinks she's found a winning formula.

'People love stories,” said Paul, who noted that President Barack Obama's stump speech really was 'just his family background and his values.”

Her stories are not overtly political but reflect the values of conservatives, Paul said.

'My stories in the book and about my grandmother, to me, are in some way are political because the values she had really are our quintessential Republicans beliefs, the beliefs that made out country great,” Paul said.

She thinks her campaign trail formula works.

'Everyone tells me ‘thank you' for not boring us to death with the stuff we always hear,” she said.

Rand Paul will be in Iowa later this week for several appearances, including a stop at the Iowa State-Iowa football game in Ames Saturday.