Yes, we have a long way to go and yes, sometimes VEEPS are chosen from those who run against the nominee and lost. OTOH, Rand and Cruz are very far apart on a good number of things, many people won't vote for any nominee with Rand on the ticket, and I suspect that some Paulinsistas wouldn't vote for a ticket where he wasn't the presidential candidate.
I also suspect that you are giving Rand more possible voters than there are/could be.
Just speculation at this point. Rand Paul did very well at CPAC. In fact, I believe he came in first.
I’m not a huge Rand Paul supporter, but I can tell ya, if it were Rand Paul or Jeb, Christie, Graham...I would vote for Rand.