PINEVILLE — Kentucky’s U.S. Senate hopeful Dr. Rand Paul made a last ditch effort to sway Bell County votes in the upcoming GOP primary at Pine Mountain State Resort Park on Friday.

He spoke as part of the Bell County Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Soup and Sandwich Luncheon.

Paul, the son of libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), is currently leading the heated contest against Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson according to TPM PollTracker, which shows Paul up by 17 percentage points. Paul was recently endorsed by former incumbent Senator Jim Bunning.

Paul was introduced by Chamber of Commerce President Bo Greene and Judge-Executive Albey Brock.

Paul sat with several locals during the luncheon and then gave a very relaxed, yet spirited talk addressing many different issues facing the nation and Kentucky — in particular, fiscal responsibility.

“We’re bankrupting the country,” said Paul, who is an eye surgeon in Bowling Green, Ky. “We bring in $2.4 trillion in Washington. All I’m asking is that we spend $2.4 trillion.”

Paul criticized both Democrats and Republicans for supporting bailout packages to the country’s biggest banks and financial institutions.

“They say too big to fail, I say too big to bail out,” said Paul.

He also specifically blasted Kentucky’s representatives in Washington who supported the bailouts under the Bush administration. He criticized those politicians for not reading bills before voting on them.

“I think they need a waiting period,” said Paul. “They tell me they want me to wait before I can buy a gun? I tell them they need to wait before they pass legislation... I say let’s wait one day for every 20 pages ...For a 1,000 page bill they’d have to wait 50 days to pass the bill.”

“We need to slow Washington down,” said Paul.

Paul positioned himself as an outsider and said he wasn’t a politician in the traditional sense, having never run for public office before.

Paul also said he supported instituting term limits for Senate and forcing those politicians to balance the budget by law.

At the end of the talk, Paul said he would “reign in the EPA” and support coal mining.

“I told several coal owners this morning that it’s an issue of private property for me,” said Paul. “I don’t need to come out here and talk about coal and go to the industry and say I’m pro-coal. I’m pro-private property. I think I can be of service and value by not being someone who looks as if they’re pandering to an industry, because it’s simply my philosophy.”

Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.