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And being paid for without stimulus money

Rand Paul is a typical political compromise option.  So far his greatest claim to fame is that he is the son of Congressman, and messianic cult of personality, Libertarian hero, Congressman Ron Paul.  That should not take anything away from the vast potential that is Rand Paul.  So far he has been an extremely solid, principled, and consistent conservative voice and there is nothing to indicate that he will continue to be anything other than a solid conservative voice.  The problem is, Republicans hope that this apple fell far enough from the tree to come out of the shadow of his fathers reckless isolationist, foreign  beliefs.

If Rand Paul, can demonstrate that he is not as on the margins as his famous father is, the Republican presidential nominee could find themselves in a position where the need for Ron Paul’s supporters to get behind them will make the difference between winning and losing, will force them to tap Rand Paul as their running mate because he has the potential to establish a decent compromise ticket that could seal the deal.

However, I do not believe that Ron Paul supporters will matter quite as much as many fear.  A vast majority of Ron Paul voters proudly extol the battle cry “Ron Paul or Bust!”   These are people who are were not and are not going to vote for a Republican presidential candidate unless that nominee was Ron Paul.  Therefore I see no value in selecting Rand Paul simply because he is the son of Ron Paul.

Additionally, Rand Paul can only help to deliver Kentucky to Republicans and that state is already in the G.O.P.’s pocket.  But the greatest reason for there being no need to pick Rand Paul, is the fact that there are many other freshmen and senior U.S. Senators who are even more qualified than Rand and have strong, established, proven records that can appeal to a much broader portion of the electorate than he can.  Still, given the fear factor created by the cult-like following of Rand’s father, weak-kneed Republicans could easily turn to Rand Paul out of what they believe to be a need to unite Republicans and unrealistic, dissatisfied, radical, libertarians together in the hopes of hammering together a winning coalition in November.  I do not believe it would achieve that, but I am also not the person at the top of the ticket who will be making that decision.  Therefore, I must conclude that  it is possible that Romney may consider Rand Paul for Vice President but I highly doubt it.