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Charleston, South Carolina (CNN) -- Campus politics aren't always a clear winner for Rand Paul, as he discovered here this week during an appearance at the College of Charleston.

The Kentucky Republican and potential 2016 contender opened with a familiar riff about government surveillance that won predictable applause -- especially from the many students who represented Young Americans for Liberty, the libertarian outfit created from the ashes of his father Ron Paul's presidential campaigns.

Then a young woman in the audience asked if Paul, who sponsored an anti-abortion bill in 2013 that defines life as beginning at fertilization, is opposed to Plan B, the emergency contraception commonly known as the morning-after pill.

A number of social conservatives -- plenty of them in Iowa -- have condemned the morning-after pill as an on-demand abortion drug, sometimes confusing the contraceptive with RU-486, which can be used to induce abortion.

Noticeably uncomfortable with the question, Paul first gave a terse answer: "I am not opposed to birth control," he said. After a pause, he elaborated. "That's basically what Plan B is. Plan B is taking two birth control pills in the morning and two in the evening, and I am not opposed to that."

Rand Paul: 'I am not opposed to birth control'

Next question.

The exchange was notable because it happened on a college campus -- a place where Paul has made inroads in building support for his libertarian agenda. And it underscored the challenge that lies ahead for him: burnishing the libertarian credentials that make him so appealing to young voters while making sure he doesn't stray so far from the Republican line that he won't be able to win the party's presidential nomination.

Another student here pressed him on "the drug war," asking if Paul would support legalizing marijuana, cocaine and heroin. He said he wasn't supportive of drug use, explaining that pot "is not that great," but said drug laws should be left up to states. Colorado and Washington are experimenting with legalized marijuana, he said, and we should be watching carefully.

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Rand Paul's campus challenge

By Ashley Killough and Justin Peligri, CNN

updated 8:21 PM EDT, Thu October 16, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Concord, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Sen. Rand Paul said Ebola is "not like AIDS," offering what he says is a stark contrast from the White House's message on the disease.

"[The Obama administration] has downplayed how transmissible it is," Paul said in an interview with CNN on Thursday morning. "They say it's the exchange of bodily of fluids. Which makes people think, 'Oh, it's like AIDS. It's very difficult to catch.'"

"If someone has Ebola at a cocktail party they're contagious and you can catch it from them," Paul continued. "[The administration] should be honest about that."

How the Ebola virus spreads

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden said last week at a World Bank meeting in Washington that "we have to work now so that this is not the world's next AIDS."

Paul said he doesn't fault administration officials from learning more information about the disease as time goes on. But he argued that downplaying Ebola's health risks is the wrong course of action.

"They say all it takes is direct contact to get this," he said. "If you listen carefully, they say being three feet from someone is direct contact. That's not what most Americans think is direct contact.

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Rand Paul: Ebola is "not like AIDS"

CONCORD (AP) In his third trip to New Hampshire this year, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky on Thursday continued building a network of support with a heavy focus on young voters for a possible 2016 presidential run.

Paul spoke to mostly high school and college students in Concord about the need to elect Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate and addressed a packed auditorium at Plymouth State University. As Paul travels the country this year he has been to 32 states he is working to expand the Republican Partys base to include young people and minorities, constituencies that Republicans have had trouble attracting. ... Subscribe or log in to read more

CONCORD (AP) In his third trip to New Hampshire this year, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky on Thursday continued building a network of support with a heavy focus on young voters for a possible 2016 presidential run.

Paul spoke to mostly high school and college students in Concord about the need to elect Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate and addressed a packed auditorium at Plymouth State University. As Paul travels the country this year he has been to 32 states he is working to expand the Republican Partys base to include young people and minorities, constituencies that Republicans have had trouble attracting.

With its first-in-the-nation presidential primary, candidates like Paul who may seek their partys nomination know its critical to do plenty of face-to-face campaigning.

I think the neat thing about New Hampshire is that its a small enough state that people not only want but seek out personal interaction with the candidate, Paul said during a stop at the New Hampshire Republican Party headquarters in Concord. So when I call people on the phone here at the headquarters, I think people arent that shocked.

Although he says he will decide whether to run for president in the spring, Paul already is building a ground game in New Hampshire to help spread that message and attract early supporters. In July, Paul hired veteran New Hampshire strategist Mike Biundo to run his PACs efforts here. Biundo managed Rick Santorums 2012 campaign for president and says he and his team are starting to build a statewide, grassroots network of Paul supporters. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is the only other possible 2016 candidate with a staffer in New Hampshire, Republican lobbyist Mike Dennehy.

As Paul tries to carve out a national profile, he is continuously linked to his father, Ron Paul. A Dartmouth College student told Paul that he began following Ron Paul in seventh grade. In New Hampshire, the shadow of his father could help Paul Ron Paul took second in the 2012 New Hampshire primary, largely by engaging the grassroots supporters Biundo and his team are now trying to tap into. There is a risk, though: Some of Ron Pauls libertarian viewpoints have alienated voters.

I think people are starting to understand both similarities and differences. And, you know, Im proud of my dad, Paul said. How many kids in 7th grade are eager to follow a candidate?

Widening the partys base, Paul says, also means reaching out to minority voters and allowing for differences of opinion on social issues. Paul has talked to minority communities about the need to reform prison and drug laws and spoke out against the militarization of police.

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Rand Paul makes 3rd trip to NH

MANCHESTER, N.H. Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said the government isnt taking Ebola as seriously as it should be while stumping today in New Hampshire for Scott Brown.

Paul addressed supporters at Browns campaign headquarters in Manchester, saying he was lending his support to the former Bay State senator in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen so Republicans can secure a majority in the Senate.

He faulted the Obama administration for its handling of Ebola fears.

I think claiming that we know everything about it or claiming that its not very transmissible is a mistake, Paul told the Herald. The government was telling us, Oh it takes direct bodily fluid contact. Well, they then say that direct contact is standing 3 feet from someone. Most people dont think that thats direct contact.

Brentwood, N.H., resident Lois Deyoung, 68, who attended the event, agrees.

I have a serious fear about it, Deyoung said. This Ebola one frightens me because the presidents not willing to shut down the borders.

Rand wouldnt go as far as shutting down the borders, but he said they do need to be more secure. He said the administration should consider halting flights to and from West Africa.

I think that theyve been so concerned about not hurting anybodys feelings that they really havent treated this as seriously as they could, Paul said. We could still give humanitarian aid, stuff going over there but I think if youre coming here to visit your cousin, your aunt, your uncle, it could wait a couple months, and it could be less likely then.

But Harvard Global Health Institute Director Ashish Jha said thats unrealistic.

I think its a good idea until you really think about it, Jha said. People going to Liberia with American ties, theyll go through a third country. Theyll lie, and theyll come back in with Ebola, and well have no idea.

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Rand Paul faults government response to Ebola

Sen. Rand Paul tells POLITICO that the Republican presidential candidate in 2016 could capture one-third or more of the African-American vote by pushing criminal-justice reform, school choice and economic empowerment.

If Republicans have a clue and do this and go out and ask every African-American for their vote, I think we can transform an election in one cycle, the Kentucky Republican said in a phone interview Thursday as he was driven through New Hampshire in a rental car.

Paul on the cover of the new issue of Time as The Most Interesting Man in Politics met with black leaders in Ferguson, Missouri, last week; opened a GOP engagement office in an African-American area of Louisville in June; and spoke the next month to a National Urban League convention in Cincinnati.

(Also on POLITICO: Rand Paul meets with black leaders in Ferguson)

That doesnt mean that we get to a majority of African-American votes in one cycle, Paul continued, speaking between campaign stops in Plymouth and Salem. But I think there is fully a third of the African-American vote that is open to much of the message, because much of what the Democrats has offered hasnt worked.

Exit polls showed the GOPs share of the African-American vote in the past six presidential elections ranged from 4 percent for John McCain in 2008 to 12 percent for Bob Dole in 1996, according to the Roper Center. Mitt Romney got 6 percent in 2012.

When pressed on his ambitious goal, Paul upped the ante: I dont want to limit it to that. I dont want to say theres only a third open. The reason I use the number a third, is that when you do surveys of African-American voters, a third of them are conservative on a preponderance of the issues. So, there is upside potential.

As I travel and I go and meet with African-American leaders they may not be ready to embrace a Republican yet, Paul added. But they say that theyre very happy that were competing for their vote. And they often tell me, You know what? I havent seen my Democrat representative in a while.

(VIDEO: CDC chief: 'Porous' borders in Africa would undermine travel ban)

Paul said that if Republicans win the Senate majority next month and his fellow Kentucky senator, Mitch McConnell, becomes majority leader, the Senate should quickly pass a flurry of bills to put Obama on the spot.

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Paul makes big vow on black vote