It is bad news for Rand Paul, but perhaps not terminal. I’m not a Rand Paul supporter, but I expect that he will remain in the race longer than most think. There are some stumbling blocks for Cruz in trying to draw votes from both the social conservative wing and the libertarian wing. There are some issues that are simply mutually exclusive.
How Cruz finesses that will be interesting. If he plays down or abandons his social values, he will lose votes from the social conservatives. If he plays them up too much, he will lose votes from the libertarians.
I suspect that Cruz is more of a social conservative than a libertarian and that will show in the primaries. The result will be a continuing niche for Rand Paul. Just my opinion.
I agree, and this election is going to be a test of maturity for both wings. They came together to support Ronald Reagan, back when everyone realized that reining in government was the only issue that mattered. Now that out-of-control government is an even bigger problem than in 1980, it is imperative that both wings get behind the candidate best able to tackle it.