In my view, Rand Paul is running for the Vice-Presidency. Virtually all of his "huh" positions are ones that appeal to the youth vote -- drugs, gay rights, broadening the franchise, etc.
He's setting himself up as the only ticket option who can conceivably attract the youth vote.
Which party?
He wants to attract the liberal vote?
Possible. In my view though, Rand is a big picture guy with ideas that will be almost revolutionary outside of grass roots and libertarian circles. I don't think he could be happy cutting ribbons and speaking at rotary clubs. I think he is sort of positioning himself as an alternative the "establishment" may view as their best "hail mary" shot to win and can grudgingly accept. He is doing them favors as needed now to show he can be a team player and won't be like his father.
I don't really trust Rand because I actually do believe he is far more like his father than he lets on (and I think his father is a nutter), and his ingratiating himself with the likes of Alexander, McConnell, etc, only convinces me Rand has learned well how to play the game of politics well. I don't believe he has anything in common with the establishment GOP and I doubt he much likes them. In fact I'd bet he has pure contempt for them.
When I say I don't trust Rand, that doesn't mean I wouldn't vote for him. I would most certainly do so if he was our nominee, but I would be very worried about his foreign and defense policy positions. Those are the things a President has the most control over and my hunch is he is a naive isolationist like his Father. Still, he will be better than any Democrat nominated. His judicial nominations alone would make it worth voting for him. In fact that would be a big selling point of Rand Paul for me, I believe we could trust his judiciary and administrative nominees to be constitutional originalists and small government advocates.