Despite Rand Paul being obligated to pay lip service to the traditional Republican base, I think you'll find his positions to be rather in line with the socially liberal fiscally conservative point of view; he gets tarred by the Jeb Bush Karl Rove crowd and then gets hammered from the left by the Barbara Boxer types. In reality he's got a good blend assuming he can overcome the propaganda against him. Of course no candidate is perfect but I would take a libertarian leaning conservative over a nanny state 'liberal' any day. The problem is that the issues that really matter are generally obfuscated by a machine with vested interests in maintaining certain issues that incite deep divisions in the American public.

I think a Hager vs Rand Paul election would be far better than a Hillary v Jeb race that folks seem to be predicting.