[That would depend on who is financing Paul.]
Peter Thiel and Romney have something in common. They are both venture capitalists, given their successes in their field, they chose carefully what or whom they invest in.
Is it too far fetched to consider that venture capitalists may unite for a common goal to achieve future benefits?
Romney, whatever you may think about him, is no fool. The biggest mistake he could make is let it be known that he was backing Paul to keep him in the race, directly or indirectly.
Thiel knows that Paul will never be a viable candidate for president but being a wise investor he knows Romney can be.
In my opinion, Thiel is the ‘cash cow’ for Paul to supplant Romney’s inability to do so.
Elon Musk (co PayPal founder with Thiel) went for elec cars [Tesla], solar panels [Solar City] and rockets [Space X] all heavily “invested” with tax money and yet seem unable to make a profit, or find a market from what I’ve observed (Musk is a HUGE Obama supporter).
Now Thiel invests in seasteading with Patri Friedman. However he seems to have invested in other sane and highly profitable areas [In late 2004, Thiel made a $500,000 angel investment in Facebook for 10.2% of the company].
He has a lot of money to spend and I expect Romney will be needing it. Thiel was backing Ron Paul back in 2007. I wonder if Paul and Romney had any discussions back then about the future and 2012.