Ironically, I think Bernie is part of the reason Rand has started taking a louder tack on the abortion thing.

A lot of people like myself see Bernie running against basically just Clinton , and instead of just supporting Rand we hedge our bets. I have been hearing about this more than one might think, at least 2nd and 3rd hand.

I guess, the easiest way to put it is - to categorize people by the periodicals they most relate to:

On one hand you have The Blaze , on the other you have New Republic. Rand and Bernie have many supporters from each camp respectively. But then you have a sizable group, at least in terms of energy and donations that associate more with Wired.

The Wired group can shift more or less small "l" libertarian, and more or less small "l" liberal but generally arent about the big "C" in conservative. Govt should just not be obnoxiously intrusive and shady. This group is usually pretty high on Rand, but Bernie might do as well especially when his opponent is just Clinton.

After all, I think many people recognize the difference between the "hard power" and "soft power" of the Presidency.

Some of this Wired group even likes other parts of Bernies platform, but for the most part I think there is a large group of people who just wants an accountable govt that doesnt over reach into Minority Report territory and doesnt run the State and Defense dept out of AIPAC's lobbying offices.

Indirectly, I think Bernie has taken a bit of air out of Rand's campaign.

For who could be free when every other man's humour might domineer over him? - John Locke (2nd Treatise, sect 57)