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Over the past year-and-a-half, Sen. Rand Paul has spoken at historically black colleges, gathered with African American leaders in Ferguson, Missouri after the shooting of Michael Brown, and criticized a justice system he says unfairly targets minorities. His message is unmistakable: Im a different kind of Republican whos not afraid to engage with communities that typically vote for Democrats.

Yet in 2010, when he was a long-shot tea party candidate for Senate, and during his first two years in the job, Paul was rarely seen or heard from in Kentuckys African American community, according to interviews with more than a dozen black leaders in the Bluegrass State, including seven of the eight African American state legislators. Indeed, his much-publicized courtship has occurred almost entirely as the Republican began plotting a potential run for president.

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The officials, almost all Democrats, largely agreed that Paul deserves credit for spending time in minority communities and addressing issues that havent been high on the GOPs priority list. But many were skeptical that Paul is acting out of long-held beliefs about racial injustice, given his earlier absence and his controversial 2010 remarks questioning whether the Civil Rights Act should apply to private businesses, which hes sought to surmount ever since.

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I see Sen. Paul as really being an opportunist here, said Democratic state Sen. Reggie Thomas. His actions over the last couple years, now that he wants to run for president, really belie his feelings hes expressed.

For him or anyone else to think he can show up in our community, smile, shake a few hands, take a few pictures, and that represents something significant in terms of him conveying a message that answers the questions or addresses the issues we are concerned about, added state Rep. Reginald Meeks of Louisville, to me thats being pretty callous and pretty shallow.

Aside from attending Martin Luther King, Jr. celebrations, dispatching field representatives from time to time and working with a tea party-affiliated African American pastor, Paul barely registered in Kentuckys black communities during his first few years in office, according to the interviews.

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But that started to change after Mitt Romney won only 6 percent of the African American vote and 27 percent of the Latino vote in the 2012 presidential election, numbers that triggered alarms among party leaders. By the spring of 2013, Paul had seized on a message of broadening the Republican base, making high-profile speeches at historically black colleges as well as increasing his outreach to black community leaders and activists in Kentucky.

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Kentucky black leaders vs. Rand Paul

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Paul, who announced plans this week to seek re-election to the Senate in 2016 and is actively exploring whether to run for president, said he wasnt a choir boy when asked by Louisville television station WHAS if he had used marijuana while in college.

Lets just say I wasnt a choir boy when I was in college and that I can recognize that kids make mistakes, and I can say that I made mistakes when I was a kid, Paul said in an interview broadcast Friday night.

The recreational use of marijuana is legal in two states and voters in two more plus the District of Columbia have approved measures to join them. Paul told a group of law students at Northern Kentucky University last month he would not support lifting the federal ban on marijuana use, but said he did not want the federal government to try and overturn state laws that have made the drug legal.

Paul told WHAS he has focused on reducing criminal penalties for some nonviolent drug offenses, which he said have been administered unfairly and disproportionally impact the nations minorities.

He noted that the past three presidents either admitted or skirted around the issue of using illegal drugs in their youth.

If they had been poor or lived in poverty or lived in one of our big cities where there are a lot of (police) patrols, theres a good chance none of them would have ever excelled, Paul said. So I have a great deal of personal sympathy for people who have made mistakes as a young person.

Paul said in the interview a decision on whether to run for president was still months away. However, he said any potential presidential campaign would include Jesse Benton, his 2010 Senate campaign manager, who resigned from Sen. Mitch McConnells re-election campaign earlier this year after an Iowa state senator pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from Pauls fathers 2012 presidential campaign.

Benton, who served as former Rep. Ron Pauls campaign manager in 2012, has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged. In that case, former Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorensen allegedly accepted thousands of dollars to switch his support to Ron Paul before the 2012 Iowa caucuses and lied to federal investigators about the money.

Jesse is married to my niece and was a big help in the Kentucky election here in 2010 and a big help for Sen. McConnell. Yes, hell help us, Rand Paul said, adding he did not think Benton did anything wrong.

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Talking drug policy, Sen. Paul hints he used marijuana in his youth

Sen. Rand Paul said the officer involved in the choking death of 43-year-old Eric Garner should not be given the power to be able to use that kind of force.

Legal standards are difficult standards, sometimes, to prosecute people, but theres another standard for employment, and I think one announcement that would be good, and its sad in this officers case, but at the same time, he used bad discretion - he didnt use discretion, and he made a very unwise decision - he should not be given the power to be able to use that kind of force, Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said Thursday on Fox News Hannity.

So I dont think you can have an officer that makes this bad of a decision work as a policeman, and I know that sounds sad, but Eric Garner died, and he didnt need to die, he said.

A grand jury this week decided not to indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo for the incident over the summer in which an unarmed Garner, who is black, was stopped on suspicion of illegally selling cigarettes and put in a chokehold.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered a retraining of city police officers in the wake of the incident, and the decision has sparked nationwide protests, particularly since it closely follows a grand jurys decision out of Missouri not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, who is black, over the summer.

I dont think it has to be the intent, and thats why when you talk about conviction or indictment versus continued employment, theres a much different standard - the standard for being a police officer is a lot different, Mr. Paul said.

You have to have discretion - so, for example, if you see an 85-year-old jaywalking, its against the law, do you put her in a chokehold? he said.

Mr. Paul also repeated that public policy on taxes and targeting such sellers of individual cigarettes played a part.

More:
Rand Paul: Daniel Pantaleo used 'bad discretion' in Eric Garner take down

Dr. Rand Paul: Pro Life Speech
This very powerful speech by Sen. Rand Paul might change some views on morality.

By: Reality Uncensored

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Dr. Rand Paul: Pro Life Speech - Video

Sen. Rand Paul Speaks Out Against Sexual Assault in the Military - December 2, 2014
Sen. Rand Paul speaks out Against sexual assault in the Military at the Military Justice Improvement Act Press Conference, held by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).

By: SenatorRandPaul

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Sen. Rand Paul Speaks Out Against Sexual Assault in the Military - December 2, 2014 - Video