Kentucky Senator Rand Paul took a diagonal path from West Lebanon to Windham this weekend, making six stops in 36 hours. Tilton was his second-to-last stop of the day on Saturday.
His father Ron Paul got the most votes in this town in the 2012 Republican Primary. And many at Saturday's house party said they see Rand Paul as a better – or at least more realist -- version of his libertarian father.
During a speech, Paul touched on a handful of policy proposals, including entitlement reform.
“The only way you can fix Social Security, really, if you want to preserve what we have, you’re going to have to increase the age of eligibility," he said.
The senator seemed weary by the fourth of his six campaign stops this weekend. That’s as many as some of his competitors fit into a full week. He may have been trying to make up ground. Rand Paul’s last visit to New Hampshire was a month and a half ago.
It’s not that he’s been hanging out in Iowa, however.
According to a running tally kept by U.S. News & World Report, the candidate’s last trip campaign anywhere was here – back in early June. In the meantime, Chris Christie has come through three times, and Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, and Bobby Jindal all have come through twice.
Belknap County Commisioner David DeVoy hosted the event for Paul at his condo on Lake Winnesquam in Tilton. He said Paul’s got more important things to do than fly from Iowa to New Hampshire every other week.
"He takes his job very seriously," DeVoy said. "He's a U.S. senator."
Still, Manchester State Representative and Paul campaign volunteer Tammy Simmons said she hopes to see more of the candidate.