Kentucky Senator Rand Paul announced his candidacy for president Tuesday.
“I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words,” Paul began. “We have come to take our country back.”
He railed against special interests who use Washington as their personal piggybacks: they “must be stopped,” he said. Paul also went after President Obama for adding to America’s debt problem.
“Quit spending money we don’t have,” he said, drumming his routine beat against debt and overspending.
After his speech, Paul will move from the podium to social media for a Facebook Q & A. After social media, he’ll do the TV news lighting-round in several interviews. He’ll then hit the road, visiting Iowa and New Hampshire in the next few days.
Paul will also reach out to California’s tech community to bolster his campaign’s cash flow, making Silicon Valley one of his prime targets.
“Part of the message he’s sending out to the tech community [is] that, ‘I want to be close to you,’” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, told Politico. “And part of it is that he sees a naturally ally there in terms of fundraising and messaging, and I think it will be well-received.”
Paul is a social-media savvy politician, known for being one of the few Republican candidates who’ve reached out to young people via social media and actions: on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he appeared on MTV to discuss civil rights today.
Watch his announcement above.