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U.S. Senator Rand Paul, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, called for expanded school choice for poor and minority children while visiting President Barack Obamas Democrat-dominated hometown of Chicago.

Weve been trying the same thing in education for 50 to 100 years, Paul said today. Education, particularly in our big cities, has been a downward spiral, so I think just throwing more money at the problem hasnt fixed the problem.

Its the latest venue the Kentucky lawmaker, a favorite of the limited-government Tea Party movement, has picked in the past year to try to showcase himself as a different kind of Republican as he pushes his party to grow beyond its base.

He spoke last year at historically black Howard University in Washington, to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and at the Detroit Economic Club, where he argued for economic freedom zones for blighted urban areas. He also called for income-tax cuts to a flat 5 percent in areas with unemployment more than 1.5 times the national average.

Minority and urban voters overwhelmingly backed Obama in the 2012 election, and Republicans have been searching for ways to blunt the Democratic advantage with both blacks and Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate.

Such outside-the-box appearances bring with them political reward and risk for the ophthalmologist and first-term lawmaker.

Paul drew groans at Howard and was later criticized after he asked one woman whether she was aware that Republicans helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nations oldest civil-rights organization. She knew that they played such a role.

The charter school expansion Paul called for during his appearance is popular among many Republicans. Whats unique is the emphasis hes placing on how it could help disadvantaged minority students in Americas urban areas.

No one in Washington really is very good at education and knows anything about education, Paul said today at Josephinum Academy, an all-female Catholic high school northwest of Chicagos downtown with a student population thats just 5 percent non-Hispanic white. They should have very little to do with your education. These decisions should be made in Chicago, in Illinois, in Kentucky, but not in Washington.

Paul wants more charter schools, which are independent of local school districts and typically free of unionized teachers. The push for such schools has also been a favorite cause for billionaires including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, homebuilding and insurance entrepreneur Eli Broad, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.s Walton family.

Excerpt from:
Rand Paul Appeals to Democratic Base in Obamas Hometown