“It’s no accident that Rand is focused on college campuses, particularly in states like Iowa,” said Matt Kibbe, the senior adviser to the pro-Rand Paul super-PAC Concerned American Voters. “In a sense that’s potentially his secret weapon, because showing up at caucuses is a very intensity driven thing — most people won’t do it, most people won’t participate.”

And for Paul, reaching out to young voters isn’t just about winning this election, but also spreading the gospel of civil liberties, small government, capitalism, and, more recently, the dangers of socialism. “He’s a warrior for the hearts and minds of young people on behalf of the cause of capitalism and free markets,” Munisteri said. Democratic White House candidate Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, “makes no hay about the fact that he’s a socialist.”

Unlike other Republicans who focus attacks on Hillary Clinton, Paul has spent more time knocking the candidate from Vermont. “Bernie is peddling this socialism, but what is socialism? Socialism is the absence of choice,” Paul said at the University of Iowa. “There is nothing sexy or cool about socialism.”

After his speech, Paul said that there’s a big distinction between a socialist and someone like him who believes capitalism is the source of American wealth. Young people, he said, are “open to things like socialism and I want to make sure they understand how terrible socialism is, and how impoverishing it is.”

Read the article “Rand Paul Tells College Students, ‘There is Nothing Sexy or Cool about Socialism’” on bloomberg.com.