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The 11-stop, three-day swing starts Monday. The goal is to fire up young voters the campaign believes will be drawn to the senator's emphasis on issues like curtailing government surveillance, criminal justice reform and questioning continued U.S. involvement in wars overseas.

"I think that many of these kids are ready to come our way," Paul told CNN in a brief telephone interview. "Our goal is to turn 10,000 students out -- that could be enough to win the Iowa caucus. We think it's an achievable goal for us."

The swing will take the senator to Cedar Rapids, Mount, Vernon, Iowa City, Davenport, Dubuque, Fayette, Waverly, Cedar Falls, Sioux City, Storm Lake and Des Moines. It builds on an initiative the campaign launched in August aimed at encouraging college students to launch chapters for Paul supporters on 300 college campuses over 30 days. The campaign beat that goal, with 340 chapters set up on campuses nationwide in that time period and has added several more since, 15 of them in Iowa.

The libertarian firebrand, who was one of the first candidates to throw his hat in the ring, is hoping college students will give him an edge in Iowa and other early states. Wooing them could make an impact in Iowa, which has more than 130,000 students at four-year colleges alone, according to the 2013 Iowa College and University Enrollment Report.

The state makes it easy for such students, and all voters, to cast a ballot: One can register and vote on the same day, which will allow people to make a last-minute decision to participate in the state's first in the nation caucus in February.

Paul's campaign notes that his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, came in third in the caucuses here in 2012, a year when they were held during Christmas break. In 2016, they are set for February 1, when school will be in session, making students a key group to engage.

Outside college campuses, Paul says his campaign is well-organized ahead of the caucuses here.

"I think the main thing is our organizational strength is under-reported," he said, adding his campaign had mounted a statewide effort to contact all potential supporters. "We have county chairmen in all 99 counties in Iowa."

The senator is languishing in the single digits in national and early state polls and his campaign is also struggling on the fundraising front, raising some $2.5 million in the third quarter. That's well under the $7 million he raised in the second quarter, but the campaign says part of that figure was money that was transferred from his Senate committee, a practice allowed under campaign finance laws. The campaign has $2 million cash-on-hand, which aides believe is enough for a long race.

Paul's third quarter take is just a fraction of the $20 million the campaign of retired brain surgeon Ben Carson. Paul's campaign says it is on track to post for the third quarter, but the senator says the focus should be on a more comprehensive figure of $16.3 million -- that's how much he says his campaign and supporting super PACs have raised this year, with the help of 120,000 donors. Paul said 96% of donations to his campaign were under $100.

And despite his standing in polls, he says he is not going anywhere.

"We're in it to win and we're in it for the long haul," Paul said, adding that he believes he can win in the first two states to vote. "We still consider that we are contending to win in Iowa and New Hampshire."

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Rand Paul focuses on young votes with Iowa college tour ...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul believes Edward Snowden deserves some punishment for leaking classified documents about government surveillance, though he says it should be less than what some of his fellow Republicans have called for against the former National Security Agency worker.

During the convention of the Republican Liberty Caucus on Friday, a college student asked Paul whether he would pardon Snowden if elected president. The ballroom in Nashua, New Hampshire, quickly fell silent as Paul joked, "There's always got to be an easy question."

Some libertarians have called for Snowden to be pardoned. Paul's own father and one-time presidential candidate, Ron Paul, has praised Snowden in the past and supported a petition asking for clemency.

Snowden is currently living in exile in Russia and recently joined Twitter.

I know most people would want me to say yes [to pardoning Snowden] and part of me says yes and part of me says we cannot have no rules, Paul said. "We do have secrets -- maybe too many -- but we do have secrets that need to be protected. We have operatives who try to risk our lives to defend our country and he [Snowden] didnt reveal that, but you dont want people to reveal things like that.

Paul said Snowden did something that some see value in: revealing a surveillance program that may have gone hidden were it not for the leak.

"He revealed a program that we probably wouldve never known about had not he revealed it because the government was lying to us," he said. "So in many ways, you could call him a whistle-blower.

Paul said Snowden deserves some sort of punishment, but not a severe penalty like some of his fellow Republicans have called for.

"I think the best compromise on it is that there would be some penalty but that people who are going nuts -- which includes half the people in our party, wanting to execute him, shoot him, chop his head off, all this crazy stuff -- theyre completely wrong," he said. "I think there could be some accommodation. I think he would actually serve some sentence if it were reasonable and were negotiated."

The college student who asked the question, 18-year-old Jake Soraghan, said he believed Snowden should be pardoned and hoped Paul would support that. He added he knew he was asking a tough question of his favorite presidential candidate.

"Even if you support someone, I think you got to give them the tough questions," Soraghan said. "He gave a decent answer."

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Clinton said this week she sent her latest autobiography, Hard Choices, to her Republican rivals as a tongue-in-cheek way to explain her accomplishments as secretary of state. And Paul, one of those Republicans, is now auctioning off that book, promoting it on his online store as an opportunity to "GET YOUR OWN SIGNED COPY OF A GREAT FICTION BOOK!"

Paul placed the book -- signed by both him and Clinton -- on Ebay, and as of Wednesday evening it had attracted five bids and was available for $300. The auction, which includes a copy of Paul's new book, Taking a Stand, closes just before 2 p.m. Saturday.

Other Republican candidates have in return offered to send Clinton copies of their own books or said they would read Clinton's if she watched controversial Planned Parenthood videos.

Paul chose to take a shot at Clinton's record at the State Department on the title page of her book.

"Hillary, your refusal to provide security for our mission in Benghazi should forever preclude you from higher office!" he wrote in black ink before affixing his signature, according to a photograph in his online store.

Paul lists the item's condition as "brand new" and its subject as "fantasy."

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"I think the rumors of my demise are somewhat exaggerated, to say the least," Paul said Sunday on Fox News' "Media Buzz."

His paltry $2.5 million third quarter fundraising haul had sparked expectations that Paul might soon drop out. But he insisted Sunday that he doesn't need much money to keep up his campaign efforts.

"We run a tight ship around here," Paul said. "We plan on being in for the long hall, and I think ultimately celebrity will sort of filter out of this."

Paul also took a shot at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of his GOP rivals for the 2016 presidential nomination.

Five days earlier, he'd said Cruz is "pretty much done for" in the Senate because he's failed to form personal relationships with his colleagues. Paul repeated that criticism Sunday.

"I think we do have different styles. My style is when I disagree with someone, not to call them a name or be very inflammatory," Paul said.

"I can be very strong in what I believe in and I'm willing to stand up for that," he said. "But even (Senate Democratic leader) Harry Reid -- who's on the opposite side -- I have pretty good relations with him, even though he's a Democrat, and I wouldn't call him a liar or I wouldn't call him dishonest because I don't think that furthers the debate, even with people you disagree with."

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Rand Paul says he's not dropping out of 2016 race ...

Its been a tough week for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

The Republican presidential candidate has spent the week explaining why his campaign still even exists, appearing on outlet after outlet to defend himself from speculation that weakening poll numbers and a cash-strapped campaign would or should lead him to drop out.

This week, fellow GOP candidate Donald Trump mocked Sen. Paul on Twitter, writing, Rand Paulhas been driven out of the race by my statements about him he will announce soon.

Asked to respond during an interview with CNN, Paul shrugged off Mr. Trumps comments.

I guess its part of his bravado, his shtick, he said. But Ill tell you this: I think well be around just as long as Trump, or longer.

But Trump isnt the only one broadcasting these predictions. The senator raised just $2.5 million this quarter, a disappointing showing that adds insult to injury as polls peg his support at a national average of 2.4 percent, according to Real Clear Politics.

CNBC, which will host the next Republican debate on Oct. 28, has said that candidates polling at an average of 3 percent in the five-week period beforehand will secure a spot onstage.

And one of the three super PACs behind Pauls presidential run has lost confidence in the candidate, saying publicly it hasrefused to keep raising money, reports Politico.

Ed Crane, who cofounded libertarian think tank the Cato Institute and heads up a group named PurplePAC, said he believed the senator had abandoned his libertarian views.

I have stopped raising money for him until I see the campaign correct its problems, said Mr. Crane to Politico. I wasnt going to raise money to spend on a futile crusade.

Before that, PurplePAC had helped raise around $1.2 million, nearly half of Pauls total haul this quarter.

Pauls greatest strength in appealing to voters across the board a distinctive world view and message can also be his greatest weakness, The Christian Science Monitor's Francine Kiefer reported earlier this year, as Paul's ideological standpoints can also be alienating to some voters.

For now, however, the message from Paulworld is that the bad times are over, The Washington Post wrote this week.

Based on interviews with the senators campaign team, the Post reports:

As of this week, the campaign has at least one county chair in all 99 Iowa counties, winning them overeven as Paul's supportwas mired in the single digits. It has added new staff in the caucus state of Nevada, where it is currently holding onto an endorsement from a Republican state legislator who wasreportedly switching to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

There are no layoffs, no triage plans, for a staff of more than 40 people, which was always designed to be lean.No one, according to the campaign, has been asked to take a pay cut or an IOU.

I think the rumors of my demise are somewhat exaggerated, to say the least, Paul said Sunday in an interview with Fox News.

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