When I asked Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) last year about his views on police demilitarization, reforming drug sentencing, and restoring voting rights to non-violent felons, I posed this question:

"Is your brand of republicanism the new civil rights movement?"

Paul replied, "You know, I think you can look at it that way."

It was around that time when Paul emerged as a new star of the Republican Party. He was featured on the Time Magazine cover as the "Most Interesting Man in American Politics."

[RELATED: Exclusive: Is Senator Rand Paul the Leader of the New Civil Rights Movement?]

A unique politician, Paul regularly reaches out to minorities and talks about issues that are taboo in most Republican circles. Paul is "a civil liberties-loving peacenik with millennial appeal," claimed Politico.

In his race for the Republican nomination, Paul has assigned himself the daunting task of transforming the GOP from a party of "stale and moss-covered" war hawks to a party that is more inclusive and embraces new ideas.

This task has created a difficult political dilemma. How can Paul win more traditional Republicans voters without alienating his libertarian base?

One of the biggest turnoffs among the liberty movement is Paul's stance on Obama's Iran deal, which would limit nuclear development in exchanged for relief from sanctions. In March, Paul decided to support the threat from Republicans to sabotage the deal. A month earlier, Paul had stated his opposition to any such sabotage.

Then, in April, a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization tied to Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham published an attack ad against Paul preposterously insinuating that, under a Paul presidency, Iran would become capable of launching a nuclear attack on the United States. By July, Paul posted to Facebook his three reasons why he plans to vote down the deal:

"1) sanctions relief precedes evidence of compliance, 2) Iran is left with significant nuclear capacity, 3) it lifts the ban on selling advanced weapons to Iran."

Daniel McCarthy, editor of The American Conservative, recently wrote that Paul could turn around his campaign by supporting the Iran deal.

"If Rand dared, instead of being yet another single-term senator vying for the nomination, he could overnight become the most important player in the GOP on the biggest foreign-policy issue of the day. He'd get invited to every talk show as the one Republican with the audacity to side with the president to make a deal for peace," explained McCarthy.