I agree with Jack Hunter’s analysis. But I don’t see it as a bad thing that Alex Jones and Adam Kokesh would reject Rand Paul and all electoral politics at this point. Those guys need to stay radical, whereas Rand is looking to expand the “irate, tireless minority” into a majority among voters, so that he has a chance to get elected President in 2016. Given this goal, I can see why it makes sense for Rand to endorse Romney.
Rand’s target audience is different to Ron’s, and Rand’s target audience highly values Party loyalty. I am sure there are many Republicans out there who never really paid any attention to Ron simply because they did not consider him a Republican loyalist… which is why the media always made sure to ask Ron if he intended to run third-party again. These people have ears closed to the message when delivered by Ron, but they may be open to hearing it in repackaged form from Rand, as long as Rand differentiates himself from Ron and endorses Romney in 2012.
The gamble for Rand is whether he will be able to retain the Ron Paul purists and how effective he will be without the support of radicals like Jones, Kokesh and Rockwell.
Does anybody know how well-read Rand Paul is? How would he cope with questions like those Robert Wenzel asked of Gary Johnson?