I threw Rand Paul in the trash some time ago. He is no more a conservative than his father, Ron Paul.
No principles, no morals, no truths that he won’t throw under the bus if it suits his political convenience. Not the kind of guy you want to vote into office, because once he’s in, he’ll do what he damned well likes.
And he won the CPAC vote just like his dad did—by busing in gangs of pot-smoking libertarians to vote for him. Most likely the same guys who showed up every year to vote for Ron.
To paraphrase a comment by, I believe, Michael Ledeen,
Rand Paul is first, most, and primarily a Libertarian. He only talks conservative when it coincides with libertarianism.