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CONCORD, N.H. (AP) Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a possible presidential candidate in 2016, said Wednesday an "overwhelming" majority in Congress including him would vote to authorize military intervention against militants in northern Iraq and Syria if President Barack Obama lays out a specific strategy and seeks approval when he addresses the nation tonight.

Speaking to The Associated Press ahead of a visit to the early-voting state of New Hampshire, Paul's comments mark his continued evolution on foreign policy as he tries to shed an "isolationist" label. Hours before Obama was scheduled to discuss the Islamic State militant group responsible for growing violence in Iraq and Syria, Paul said the president can't escalate U.S. military involvement on his own.

"The constitution and our founding fathers were very clear: the powers of war were given to Congress," Paul said. "This is a big deal. This is not a minor part of the constitution."

Paul said he'd vote to intervene against the militants, who took responsibility for recently beheading two American journalists.

"From a practical point of view, the country is more unified and it becomes a more bipartisan challenge and more bipartisan war if we all vote to do it. I think it would be an overwhelming vote for (intervention) because I think ISIS is a threat," Paul said, using one of the acronyms for the group.

Foreign policy has been thorny for Paul. He has emerged as a leading anti-interventionist in the Republican party and been challenged for, among other things, his support for cutting military spending and bases around the world and opposition to any troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it was his support for cutting foreign aid, including to longtime U.S. ally Israel, that had critics decrying Paul as an "isolationist."

Paul on Wednesday used another global hotspot, Libya, to rap Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state whom Republicans have tried to taint over the handling of the attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi that left four Americans dead. Clinton is a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2016 and Paul said she was part of a failed policy that not only left U.S. personnel exposed to danger but destabilized Libya after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.

"I think errors were made but really it was the six months leading up to it when there were multiple requests for more security and Hillary Clinton turned them down," he said.

Paul said the secular governments the administration supported in the region weren't strong enough and left a vacuum that has been filled by radical regimes and jihadists.

"It's much worse off now," he said. "America is much more threatened by Libya now than we were under a Libya run by Gadhafi."

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Paul shifts on foreign policy as he eyes 2016 bid