Rand Paul in The Huffington Post

On Environment: Hurricane Sandy relief ads were conflict of interest

Though Paul did not address Christie by name, he railed against funding campaigns in New Jersey that heavily featured political candidates: "Some of these ads, people who are running for office put their mug all over the ads while they're in the middle of a political campaign," Paul said, adding that this could create "a conflict of interest," upsetting taxpayers who expect their dollars to be spent otherwise.

Christie appeared with his family in an ad encouraging people to visit the Jersey Shore over the summer. Paul was among 36 Senate Republicans to vote against a $50.5 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill last year, later accusing Christie of "bankrupting the government."

On Health Care: Encourage vaccines, with religious exceptions

"I'm not sure I'm different from the president or anyone else on the position," Paul said. "We have rules to encourage people to have vaccines in the country, but I don't think anybody's recommending that we hold them down."

Pressed on whether vaccinations should be required when an illness could spread to other children, Paul said certain school vaccine requirements were already "somewhat of a mandate," but really more of an encouragement. "Interestingly, 48 out of 50 states do have a religious as well as philosophic exemption if you have a problem," Paul said.