I'm absolutely shocked we agree
Honestly though, I'd be very happy with this. While I don't agree 100% with Paul, IF he managed to win the ticket he'd be the first person in memory on the biggest stage that I could see myself happy with enough to actively WANT to get involved. Huntsman would've caused that for me as well, but alas that abysmal primary stategy had him going no where.
The smears going off against Paul would definitely come in full force, but I think he's seemingly got enough "new blood" in him to embrace some of the changing realities of politics and hopefully get some people on board who know how to message and manage public perception in the 21st century to combat it. If he could leverage some of what worked with his father with the younger people in creating an '08 Obama-esque "socially trendy" feeling to his campaign, I could see him surprising some folks.