WASHINGTON — A solicitation from the 1990s that carried Ron Paul's name predicted a "coming race war," suggested the government was engaged in a "cover-up" on AIDS and warned that a plan to update U.S. currency was really a conspiracy to "steal our freedom and our prosperity."

It is the most recent controversial writing to resurface this week as the Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate's record is coming under new scrutiny amid speculation that he may be gaining ground in Iowa, where the first GOP caucus for the 2012 presidential campaign will be held next month.

The letter — an appeal for supporters to subscribe to Paul's newsletters — was obtained by Reuters from James Kirchick, a contributing editor for the New Republic magazine, who said he found the letter in archives maintained by the University of Kansas and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Sent under the banner of "Congressman Ron Paul" and carrying Paul's signature, the letter offers "wealth-saving intelligence" gleaned from Paul's network of sources within the federal government. For $99, readers could receive monthly newsletters, including the "Ron Paul Political Report," an investor's manual and the phone number for Paul's financial hotline.

Written in the first person, the letter warned readers that President George H.W. Bush and the federal government had scammed Americans by updating U.S. currency to prevent counterfeiting and money laundering.

Describing the new bills, the letter said: "These totalitarian bills were tinted pink and blue and brown, and blighted with holograms, diffraction gratings, metal and plastic threads, and chemical alarms. It wasn't money for a free people. It was a portable inquisition, a paper 'third-degree,' to allow the feds to keep track of American cash, and American citizens."

The letter also contains claims that veer into territory that seems unrelated.

"I've been told not to talk, but these stooges don't scare me," the letter said. "Threats or no threats, I've laid bare the coming race war in our big cities. The federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS (my training as a physician helps me see through this one)."

Paul has struggled to craft an explanation for offensive statements contained in the newsletters from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

One, referring to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, said, "Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks."

Paul on Wednesday disavowed the statements, saying he had not written them, nor had he read them at the time they were mailed. But he had defended some of the writings in the past, suggesting they were taken out of context.

Drew Ivers, the Iowa chairman for Paul's campaign, told Reuters that Paul stands by material he has written under his own signature. But when asked if that meant he still believed there was a federal cover-up relating to AIDS, Ivers said: "I don't think he embraces that."

Paul spokesman Jesse Benton on Friday told Talking Points Memo that Ivers was not authorized to comment on the matter, and that Paul "did not write that mail piece and disavows it."

Also

Donations returned: President Obama's re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee have returned more than $70,000 in contributions from former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine after the collapse of MF Global, Corzine's financial firm, officials said Friday.

Trump switch: Real-estate mogul Donald Trump, a Republican, has filed paperwork to become an unaffiliated voter in New York. He filed the paperwork making the change Thursday, a move prompted by his interest in mounting a third-party presidential run in 2012.

The Associated Press contributed

to this report.