For many of Ron Paul’s devoted supporters, the presidential campaign is a kind of a long publicity stunt – an opportunity to spread the gospel of Hayek, to preach to the masses of young Libertarians. The candidate himself is visibly animated by the campaign; he does not appear to have given much thought to filling cabinet posts.

But Rand Paul, the candidate’s middle son, does not like to lose. The junior senator from Kentucky is not even a good enough politician to pretend. Standing on stage in Ankeny as his father put on his usual mischievous and animated show following a disappointing third-place finish in Iowa, the slight son looked pained and distant as he stared blankly into the ranks of cheering supporters.

"I was just exhausted, and probably a little disappointed,” Paul told BuzzFeed at a sports bar here a few days later. "I mean, you always want to win."

Rand Paul got something closer to a win when his father scored a strong second in New Hampshire, a high water mark for the family. It was a mark that, after decades of being a leading libertarian voice in the country and perennial candidate, Ron Paul had finally battled his way in from the fringe. In the last leg of his career on the public stage, he has broadened his support beyond the hard core, and taken advantage of the Tea Party moment to offer the most durable alternative to Mitt Romney’s Establishment Republicanism. After this presidential run, his campaign has said he’ll retire. And when he does, a generation of loyalists will need a leader.

“I think Rand could be a wonderful president,” said Jesse Benton, the Paul campaign chairman and husband of Rand Paul’s niece.

In the meantime, the family’s dreams for Rand have created something else: A hostage. Terrified Republican leaders worry that Ron Paul will take his rowdy mix of Republicans and independents and run a spoiler third party campaign he hasn’t quite ruled out. Ron Paul, they are making clear, has nothing to lose – but his son’s career.

“The question of Rand’s future hangs over the 2012 race in a real way,” said John McCain’s 2008 campaign manager, Steve Schmidt.“If [Ron Paul] were to leave the GOP it would have a crushing effect on his son’s political career in the Republican Party and would be ruinous to any chance of a serious national campaign under the Republican banner.”

And while Ron Paul hasn’t ruled out a third party bid, his aides insist it won’t happen. Inside the Paul clan, Rand’s generation is rising, and the dream is a new kind of Paul campaign: One that’s dead serious, a tick or two closer to the mainstream, and one that wins.

Pressed by BuzzFeed, Rand Paul wouldn’t rule out running for president. He is, he said, “interested in the national debate.”

Rand is universally known, in Paul world, by his first name alone, which he and his father insist isn’t derived from that of the libertarian philosopher Ayn Rand. He’s quiet but confrontational, a man whose problems with authority are serious enough that he once led a renegade group of opthalmologists against the profession’s main medical association. He was widely dismissed in his 2010 Senate campaign, which was marked by coverage of his utter hostility to the federal government and some colorful college pranks; he came through, accurately, as a true outsider and in an outsider’s year, he mowed down both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s primary choice and a strong Democrat in November..

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/the-next-paul

He is one of the very few who DID NOT vote for the NDAA...
I will at least respect him for that.