With Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s GOP presidential campaign hitting Coeur d’Alene, Boise, Nampa and Idaho Falls this week, Idaho GOP Chairman Stephen Yates says Idaho Republicans are getting more chance now to view the candidates. “That’s absolutely welcome,” Yates said. “We think having an early primary helped get several of the campaigns to look again at Idaho, and we hope to welcome more candidates to come.”

The Idaho GOP this year moved to a March 8 early presidential primary, rather than its previous caucus system.

Paul’s “Stand With Rand” rallies reportedly drew 500 people in Coeur d’Alene; 300 in Boise; and several hundred in Nampa, where the room had originally only been set up with 122 chairs. The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that staffers rushed to set up more chairs when crowds began arriving, and opened up the temporary walls of the room in the Nampa Civic Center where the rally was set.

“Sen. Paul will have the distinction of being the first candidate in the 2016 cycle to really hit all three of the major regions of our state,” Yates said. “Four events in Idaho in 24 hours – that’s pretty good exposure for a presidential candidate to our state’s varied geographies and interests. Hopefully it sets the bar that other candidates will want to match.”

Paul’s dad, former Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, came in third in Idaho’s GOP presidential caucuses in 2012, with Mitt Romney first and Rick Santorum narrowly edging Paul for second. In Idaho’s non-binding 2008 GOP presidential primary – the caucuses were binding - Ron Paul got 23.7 percent to John McCain’s 69.7 percent.

“I think Idaho is fertile ground for a Rand Paul candidacy,” Idaho 1^st District GOP Congressman Raul Labrador told reporters after Paul’s Boise rally, as he and Paul took questions from the media. “I think the people of Idaho are conservative, ‘libertarian-ish,’ as he considers himself.” Labrador, western states chairman for Paul’s campaign, is traveling through all five western states with Paul for his series of campaign rallies, which included Idaho, Washington, Alaska, Utah and Wyoming.

Paul, for his part, said his swing through western states including Idaho shows “we’re in it for the long distance,” saying, “We want to be able to compete in all 50 primaries.” He dismissed polls that show him in the low single digits among the 17 major GOP candidates for president, saying that two-thirds of voters haven’t decided. “They’re very soft polls, and they’re very movable,” Paul said, noting some that show him doing well head-to-head against Hillary Clinton in certain states.

“I think people are very independent-minded out here,” Paul said. “They came here to get away from big government, they came here for religious liberty, and that’s what I’m about.” He said he’s for “small government in Washington and a lot more local control.”

Labrador said, “The most electable is usually supposed to be the moderate.” But, he said of Paul, “He’s the most electable, he’s the one that can actually reach to new audiences in the Republican Party.”

Said Paul, “The thing is, I’m as fiscally conservative as they come. … I’m for lowering taxes, I’m for all the traditional things that conservative people are for. … But I’m also somebody who believes in the right to privacy, and I don’t believe that the NSA should be collecting all our phone records.” He said that stand appeals not only to “many of us conservatives,” but also to young college students who do everything on their cell phones, to people “who have a sense of justice” and more.

“That brings in new people,” he said. He also pointed to his foreign policy positions, which are skeptical of overseas intervention and war. “That foreign policy belief also attracts a lot of independents,” Paul said. “Some people say there’s a third of the public that is no longer Republican or Democrat. Many of those people I will appeal to. So I think I can appeal to traditional Republicans because I’m a rock-solid conservative, and I think also because I’m an independent on some of these liberty issues, it brings in new people and allows me to be an election-winnable candidate.”