I'm pumped for Rand Paul. More than anything what Libertarians need is someone to introduce the cause to the general populace. For a few reasons it's important, but one major reason is to thin out the extremists that speak loudly for the camp but don't actually run or participate in campaigns. People who don't believe in compromise are not someone who I want to ally with.

I think Rand Paul is running as a Republican because like it or not, there isn't going to be a Libertarian President until more people know what Libertarians represent. If half of your campaign is spent just explaining what your party is, then you're never really going to get to the issues in a large scale election. Ron Paul bit off on explaining the basic tenets of Libertarianism all the time, and it got him down into the minutiae of politics when his opponents got to speak in broad strokes. You can convince one person with details, but one person isn't going to win an election and so you're better left to broad strokes and relying somewhat on your party's affiliation with issues. It's a huge luxury that Libertarians just don't have yet.