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Trying to make the case that he is the tech communitys candidate in 2016, Senator Rand Paul took the stage at SXSW this weekend to discuss privacy and youth political engagement.

Drawing applause from the room, the Republican from Kentuckysaid that he is the only candidate for 2016 who wants to bring an end to the National Security Agency (NSA) programs collecting bulk telephone metadata in an interview with Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith. He argued that President Obama has lost popularity he once had among young voters under the age of 30 because he has failed to protect the civil liberties he said he would when he first ran for president.

He showed much less regard for privacythan the Republicans did before him, Paul said.

Paul argued that many of the NSA programs began under President George W. Bush but were expanded under the Obama administration. Although Paul is correct to say the Obama administration has done little to curtail the NSAs program, its hyperbolic to say the Obama administration has done less to protect privacy than the Bush administration, which oversaw the creation of todays surveillance state in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Not missing his opportunity to criticize his potential opponent Hillary Clinton, Paul made many jokes about the recent controversy over her decision to use a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

He gave a preview of a potential strategy to paint Clinton as part of an old guard of politicians unfamiliar with new technology, making jokes that she did not know that one phone could be connected to multiple email accounts. He lampooned her recent statements that the server was secure because it had been guarded 24/7, saying that hackers would not be coming through her window.

What does she think theres like floppy disks down there? he said.

But Paul dodged questions from Smith about whether or not he uses a private email account, repeating that rules are different for Congress.

Looking ahead to his hypothetical campaign and possible presidency, Paul talked about how technology could be used to reach out to a new generation of American voters who have become disengaged with politics. Paulwas one of the first politicians to use Snapchat.

He thinks his privacy message will resonate particularly well with young voters, who according to polls are most opposed to government surveillance of electronic communicationsand most supportive of Edward Snowden for leaking troves of government documents that revealed NSA practices. In the past hes made the point that just like young voters wouldnt want their parents to read their texts, they wouldnt want the government to either.

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Senator Rand Paul Courts Techs Support For His Likely ...

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul speaks with Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune at South by Southwest Interactive on Sunday. Photo by Texas Tribune.

In his continued campaign to reach nontraditional GOP voters, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul stopped in Austin on Sunday to speak with the hip, young and plugged-in at the South by Southwest Interactive conference.

While the crowds he speaks to are unconventional, part of his message criticizing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and President Obama, was standard issue.

Asked how technology might transform the Oval Office for the next president, Paul volunteered, One of the key differences, and probably what my advice would be for whoever wins, is dont use your private email server.

The dig at Clintons use of private email as Secretary of State came as he acknowledged that he keeps a private email account and that he doesnt necessarily favor governments penchant for stockpiling emails.

But the rules are different for Congress than they are for the executive branch, and so are the national security concerns, Paul said.

And the email controversy plays up deeper perception problem for Clinton, he said.

The Clintons kind of think the law is for you ordinary people. Theyre somehow above the law, Paul said. Theres a certain arrogance and hypocrisy that is going to difficult for her to overcome.

Clinton has said she did not break any law, and that she has turned over 55,000 pages of emails. Others also have defended her use of a private email, saying other secretaries of state had similar practices.

Paul, who was one of the 47 Republican senators who signed a letter to Iran warning about its nuclear negotiations with the president, said he thought the letter would help Obama deal from a position of strength. He said he reasoned that negotiators could say that the president had to force certain issues otherwise Congress would not agree to the deal.

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Rand Paul talks tech and Clinton emails at SXSW ...

In trying to expand the Republican coalition, Mr. Paul is fighting political and demographic trends that are pushing more voters away from his party. A new generation is less socially conservative on issues like same-sex marriage, and a growing minority population is increasingly Democratic.

His campaign, which he is expected to announce early next month, will be a test of whether the kind of Republican rebranding he is attempting can happen in the next year, or whether it will take much longer, if it happens at all.

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"It's not always easy," Mr. Paul said in an interview here. He insisted that the political operation he is building is aimed at 2016, not some later date. But he acknowledged that he is not expecting instant results.

"Unless you are somehow this miraculous faith healer," he said, "it's going to be a gradual thing in the sense that people will open up to considering you. But most of them are saying things like: 'We're happy that you're competing for our vote. We're happy to see you coming where Republicans haven't come before.'"

"If we don't let it happen," he added, "I think we're not going to win national elections again."

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At South by Southwest, that approach drew curious spectators like Charlie Maas, who works in advertising and was visiting from Los Angeles. "I saw Rand Paul on the schedule and said: 'Huh. I'd go to that. That's interesting.'"

Interesting is the adjective so often used to describe Mr. Paul. The other word that many people often use after hearing him speak is "but" as in they were happy to listen to him, but they were not yet convinced that they could vote for him.

"It's one thing to be interesting; it's another thing to be compelling," said Matthew Dowd, who was a top strategist for George W. Bush. "They've got to see him sitting in the Oval Office. And I do not think Rand has crossed that threshold yet."

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Rand Paul captures a new audience

While many of his rivals spent the weekendscoutingfor support in the traditional electoral hunting grounds of New Hampshire, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul headed south by southwest, instead.

Interviewed Sunday at the South by Southwest technology conference by Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith, Paul did his best to woo younger, tech-savvy voters and what he called the leave me alone coalition of libertarian-leaning Americans.

I think some people think tech is this miracle thats going to transform politics and if you just know the secret tech code that you can get all these new voters. Tech is important, but so is substance, Paul, who sported brown cowboy boots and jeans, told the Austin, Texas, audience. I think if you have something to say that is unique, that you can find other people that may agree with that unique message.

So, Im trying to find and I think youre a potential voter in Texas that might be registered as a Democrat, might be an Independent, or a Republican, but I think you might be coming our way.

Asked what specifically characterized someone who might be interested in Pauls message, the senator emphasized libertarian values.

Its not just that youre into tech that makes you open to our message, its if youre part of the leave-me-alone coalition. The leave-me-alone coalition thinks that government doesnt know everything, that government really shouldnt be telling us what to do, for the most part, and that we want to be left alone, whether its our economic lives our our personal lives, Paul said to scattered applause.

After weeks in which Paul seemed to intent on siding with members of theconservative wing of the Republican party on issues like nuclear negotiations with Iran and support of the government ofIsrael, the senator fully embraced hisrole as a GOPiconoclast, pointing out what distinguished him from his possible presidential rivals.

Im the only candidate who thinks that the NSA program on bulk collection of your phone records should be shut down, Paul said. So, for example, if any of the people who like that look online for an article that says the NSA shouldnt be doing that, it may well be that they see an ad from us, and thats the way the Internet works, is liking and tagging your ideas to other ideas out there that people are interested in.

As if to prove his point, seconds after Paul spoke that line, a version of it appeared on the senators Twitter feed.

Paul lambasted President Obama for not stopping the NSA collection of the phone records of American citizens, and called his administration worse on civil liberties than that of George W. Bush. And on the topic of Hillary Clintons use of a private e-mail account and server during her tenure as secretary of state, Paul said Clinton broke the law.

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At SXSW, Rand Paul makes play for leave-me-alone coalition

Rand Paul, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Introduce Federal Medical Marijuana Bill
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/9/8177255/federal-medical-marijuana-law About time.

By: Styxhexenhammer666

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Rand Paul, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Introduce Federal Medical Marijuana Bill - Video