Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., stopped by the Bowling

Green Area Chamber of Commerce for luncheon with Chamber members on

Thursday. While Paul addressed issues such as health care reform at

the economy, he wanted to send a direct message to WKU students as

well: Get involved.

“A lot of students don’t vote,” he said.

“You’ve got to register to vote and you got to vote.”

Paul said WKU students were involved on his

U.S. Senate campaign in 2010, and doing so allowed them to

influence others to vote.

“It’s still very grassroots,” he said, adding

that people who vote have more say in government that those who

don’t.

“I think that people feel helpless sometimes.

‘They never listen to me.’ I think a lot of elected officials will

listen,” Paul added. “If they get thousands of letters saying, ‘You

guys need to balance your budget’ or thousands of letters saying,

‘Quit borrowing all that money from China,’ they’ll wake up when

they hear that.”

Paul also wants students to know that the

problems in Washington, D.C., can affect them.

“People talk about the debt being inherited by

our kids and our grandkids,” he said. “I think it’s more immediate

than that, in the sense that, as you graduate from college, you’re

going to see the ramifications of the debt first-hand because it

means there may not be a job available.”

“And it’s going to be more difficult for kids

to get a job, so kids need to realize that it’s not just a number

on a sheet.”

Regarding the Republican presidential primary,

Paul said he sees four clear frontrunners — Michele Bachmann, Rick

Perry, Mitt Romney and his father, Ron Paul.

“Well, you know I’m kind of biased,” he said.

“I like that Ron Paul.”

These four GOP candidates are the “only ones

in striking distance of the lead,” Rand Paul said, adding that any

four would be better in the White House than President Barack

Obama.