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 Paul, a potential 2016 White House contender, won 31 percent in
the annual straw poll taken at the Conservative Political Action
Conference. His closest competitors were Texas Senator Ted Cruz,
with 11 percent, and conservative neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 9
percent.
The straw poll was announced at the end of a three-day conference
that typically draws many young conservatives. Organizers said one
in two of the 2,459 people who participated in the poll were between
18 and 25 years old.
Paul was one of four potential Republican presidential candidates to
address the annual conference on Friday, along with Texas Governor
Rick Perry, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former
Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
The Kentucky lawmaker drew a rousing response when he accused
President Barack Obama of running roughshod over personal liberty
with programs like the National Security Agency's electronic
surveillance. He asked attendees to "imagine a time when the White
House is once again occupied by a friend of liberty."
Paul sounded a similar note on Saturday when he thanked them for
their support.
"The fight for liberty continues, and we must continue to stand up
and say: We're free and no one, no matter how well-intentioned, will
take our freedoms from us," he said in a statement.
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Florida Senator Marco Rubio came in a close second to Paul at last
year's conference but has since suffered among conservatives for his
support of immigration reform. He trailed this year with 6 percent
of the vote, behind New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's 8 percent,
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's 7 percent and Santorum's 7
percent.
Organizers said 25 candidates were on the ballot, but there were
still a number of write-ins, including former Governor Jeb Bush of
Florida and the late U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, who served from
1923 to 1929.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; editing by Marguerita Choy)
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