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DETROIT Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) acknowledged Wednesday a problem that many Republicans admit only privately: their party brand sucks.

The weakness, Paul added, is particularly serious when it comes to appealing to black voters.

Remember Dominos Pizza? They admitted, Hey, our pizza crust sucks. The Republican Party brand sucks and so people dont want to be a Republican and for 80 years, African-Americans have had nothing to do with Republicans, he said.

Why? Because of a perception, he said. The problem is the perception is that no one in the Republican Party cares.

For some time, he has been trying to shift perceptions by repeatedly speaking to African-American audiences and touting his proposals to reform the criminal justice program and rebuild blighted inner city neighborhoods.

Were also fighting 40 years of us doing a crappy job, of Republicans not trying at all for 40 years, so its a lot of overcoming, he said. You got to show up, you got to have something to say and really we just have to emphasize that were trying to do something different.

Paul has sponsored six bills that seem especially relevant to concerns within the African-American community about issues such as the criminal justice system.

One of those bills is the Redeem Act, which would help juveniles with criminal records get jobs and avoid reoffending. It is co-sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), the Senates only black Democrat.

Another bill sponsored by Paul would give federal judges greater flexibility in sentencing. A third would eliminate the disparity between punishments for cocaine- and crack-related crimes.

We look at incarceration and we see a disproportionate number of people of color in jail and then when we see statistics on drug use, it seems to be about equal among all the different races, he said. Blacks and Hispanics seem to populate our jails more.

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Rand Paul: GOP brand 'sucks'