I know, I think even in this case, it makes Rand's senate seat vulnerable and his shot of ever clinching the nomination very slim. I think Rand would be pressured to speak against his father's running and it's going to be too much of a soap opera.
What's more likely is that the Ron Paul can act behind the scenes and his zombie army might be disposed promoting a third candidate without official endorsement from Ron Paul.
I think the long term goal of the Pauls is to take over the GOP and they can't show disloyalty by endorsing 3rd candidates.
You'd think, but who ever said Nazis are logical and rational, by our standards? Let's not forget the following:
1: Despite being overt racists (which would doom any other white), the Pauls receive tons of fawning, or at least neutral, press. The past several elections have shown that the electorate, including the GOP base, basically get behind, or at least don't actively fight, the media's darling candidates.
2: Ron Paul basically did exactly this in 2008 and 2012. His zombies aggressively pursued a write-in strategy for the general elections and he tacitly encouraged this and egged them on.
3: McCain was the most disloyal piece of crap the GOP has ever seen (before Muzz Muzzie)--remember, he almost accepted John Kerry's invite to be his running mate, and he still climbed to the top of the party in 2008. So why wouldn't the NWO establishment and the stupid GOP voters that go along with it forgive the Pauls of the same thing?