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With Republican rivals like Scott Walker and Jeb Bush off to a strong start in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, Rand Paul will seek his own breakout moment at an annual gathering where hopefuls go to burnish their conservative credentials.

Of all the potential candidates speaking at the meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Kentucky senator should feel most at home. He won the event's presidential straw poll the last two years, buoyed by support from young libertarian-leaning conservatives who plan to turn out in force again this year.

The 52-year-old Paul, famous for his non-interventionist approach to world affairs, could find himself at odds with a growing hawkishness among other Republican hopefuls mustering support with their calls for more aggressive action against Russia and Islamic State militants.

"He's got a challenge to overcome," said Al Cardenas, former chairman of the American Conservative Union which organizes the event known by its acronym, CPAC.

Due to speak on Friday, Paul can nonetheless count on a generational divide of sorts between the party's traditional foreign-policy hawks and younger activists who have come of age during 13 years of nonstop U.S. engagement in wars.

"We've grown up in war in Afghanistan and Iraq and we all have friends who have gone overseas and either have not come back or have come back mentally scarred. There's a toll that's been taken on young people in this war," said Jeff Frazee, executive director of Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian group that has had a heavy presence at recent CPAC gatherings.

The influence of libertarians can be seen this year on panels that will tackle criminal-justice reform and marijuana legalization, as well as more traditional topics such as abortion and President Barack Obama's signature healthcare act.

SHARED SPOTLIGHT

With 20 months to go before the election, Walker, 47, and Bush, 62, will each have a moment in the CPAC spotlight.

Walker, the Wisconsin governor, is riding a surge of conservative support from a warmly received speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit last month but came under fire this week when he demurred on whether he believed Obama was a Christian.

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Rand Paul crunch time at CPAC

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Rand Paul Wins CPAC Straw Poll, Still Has No Chance of Being President - Video

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) won a straw poll of conservative activists, giving his potential bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 a boost. (Reuters)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took the top spot for the third year in a row at Saturdays Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, edging out Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) as the favorite in the last CPAC presidential preference contest before primary voting begins.

Paul had been the prohibitive favorite heading into this years balloting, which featured 17 candidates. More than 3,000 attendees voted, a 20 percent increase over 2014's turnout.

Hundreds of Paul fans had streamed in from across the country for the multi-day event in National Harbor, Md -- but his percentage of the vote actually dropped, to 25.7 percent, from 31 percent in 2014. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) had made a major effort, sponsoring buses that brought supporters in from Washington, D.C. to Maryland and paying entry fees for some supporters a push that brought him a fifth-place showing. Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.), who drew a significant level of grassroots excitement at the conference with a strong performance in his Friday address, drew 21.4 percent of the vote, dramatically and improving on his fifth place showing last year. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who finished second to Paul in 2014, drew 11.5 percent of the vote, roughly the same as he had in 2014.

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who boasted a swell of grassroots support at CPAC, came in fourth place. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came in 10th place, with 2.8 percent of the vote.

Organizers said the results showed "how fluid and open the race is."

A candidates popularity with the Conservative Political Action Conference hasnt necessarily been a great predictor of his or her success with the larger GOP electorate, as attendees tend to have a stronger libertarian bent than the Republican majority. The Kentucky senator had won the CPAC straw poll in 2013 and 2014, and his father former Texas congressman Ron Paul won in 2010 and 2011. Mitt Romney won in 2012.

But that isnt really the point of CPAC anyway.

The event which is sponsored by think tanks, conservative Web sites and influential interest groups like the National Rifle Association is really more about theater, a forum for budding presidential candidates to road-test ideas. And in that regard, this years gathering did not disappoint.

Some of the excitement had to do with the fact that organizers changed the format of the event from previous years. Rather than just deliver speeches, candidates were expected to take questions from the audience a twist that helped some candidates, but hurt others.

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Rand Paul wins CPAC straw poll, with Scott Walker a close ...

For the third year in a row, Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky has won The Washington Times/CPAC presidential preference straw poll taken at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. His young libertarian legions made that possible again, as they did for Sen. Pauls father, former Rep. Ron Paul.

More interesting and likely more significant for the run-up to the 2016 presidential race is how well Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did as well as former Florida governor Jeb Bushs relatively mediocre showing.

Gov. Walker surged from sixth place in 2014 to second place this year, tripling his portion of the 3,007 votes spread among 17 candidates to 21.4 percent, not far behind Pauls 25.7 percent. The margin between the two was even closer (less than one percentage point) when first and second choices were tallied.

Mr. Bush, meanwhile, was back in fifth place, behind physician Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz as well as Paul and Walker.

When seen in light of this Crowdpac spectrum of a dozen potential GOP candidates, the results could have been predictable especially given CPACs gathering of activists from the most conservative wing of the Republican Party.

Least conservative here is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, with Bush judged to be only slightly more conservative. Most conservative is Paul, with Cruz, Walker, and Carson not far behind. (Crowdpac is a political technology start-up that bases its rankings on an individuals voting record, campaign donations, and communications, including speeches and social media.)

Still, Bush who met with boos over his positions on immigration reform and the Common Core educations standards can claim to have met expectations at CPAC without any major gaffes.

Falling away behind Bush in the straw poll were former Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Marco Rubio. Gov. Christie won just under 3 percent of the vote and former Texas governor Rick Perry took barely more than 1 percent.

What would any election be without charges of vote manipulation serious or not?

The Pauls Ron and son Rand have done well in recent years by encouraging their libertarian followers to show up and of course vote. Nearly half those voting this year were ages 18-25.

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Rand Paul wins CPAC straw poll again, but Scott Walker ...