Is it too soon to induct the bizarre bromance between Cory Booker and Rand Paul into the Hall of Fame of timeless odd couples? The two young senators’ budding relationship is probably one of the creepier examples of strange modern American politics. One man is a Tea Party-loving opthalmologist from Kentucky who once employed a former radio shock jock nick-named “the Southern Avenger”; the other a fast-talking, fast-tweeting liberal black ex-mayor of Newark.

Earlier this week, Paul, no Twitter slouch himself, even tweeted Booker a hearty congratulations on making The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful list, and has since followed up with a handful of tweets picturing the two men together.

It’s all a little weird.

Still, there’s none of the infamous Felix and Oscar hate, where they seem visibly inclined to choke hold each other over the poker table.By Senate standards, it’s Best Man Holiday; compare it to the way Democrats and Republicans get along in the House, and it’s damn near Fifty Shades of Gray. Booker and Paul run it like Glover and Gibson in Lethal Weapon, especially when they are attacking lapses in civil liberties on everything from marijuana laws to disenfranchised felons.

If we didn’t know any better, we’d let the fan-boy few paint these guys as middle-aged BFFs itching for a last stand against The Man. They are probably one selfie away from being roommates, one more Millennial-pandering bill from sliding across Senate hallways in their socks and underwear briefs.

That’s all fine and nice, since we yearn for the warm, fuzzy comity and spit-in-the-handshake Hill days before Newt Gingrich hit the scene. But many of us prognosticators and snark allecks are so caught up in the No Labels-style optics of Washington’s new celebrity power duo that we’re fast missing the shrewd political calculus both lawmakers, particularly Paul, have factored into it.

Many gawk at recent Paul-Booker legislative collaboratives like hip-hop heads bumping to the next fresh mix tape. Few are asking about the motivations. Sure, we might recognize benefits in the push to reform drug-sentencing laws while giving non-violent convicts a new chance at a gig. And, understandably, we’re awed that in this climate a Southern Republican with designs on the White House in 2016 can team up with a Northeastern Democrat in a bid to completely script-flip the American criminal justice system as we know it.

But just as compelling is how it all fits into Paul’s schemes for electoral domination. Many liberals slept on Paul as a potential GOP frontrunner, quick to dismiss him as a babbling, libertarian-lite mini-Ron who stumbled through Aqua Buddha, Wikipedia rhyme bites and questions about his views on the Civil Rights Act. Look at him now. What observers missed were the converging trends that Paul – and his new sidekick Booker – didn’t.

This is a partnership based on two ambitious, jumpy pols with smart takes on the future: one who’s building his machine for the presidency and the other who wants to ride on someone’s coattail long enough to, perhaps, be noticed as a running mate or cabinet pick.

Clearly, anything about reforming pot laws and keeping folks out of jail wins over Millennials, a hot strategic commodity that’s enticing Paul and Booker to use one another. Paul’s greatest political asset is his unpredictability, and spiting conventional demographic wisdom could help Republicans defy expectations. Even with Millennials projected to make up nearly 40 percent of eligible voters in 2016, just because they’re young doesn’t necessarily mean they’re giving Democrats a solid.

Of course, it all depends on what the GOP primaries eventually spit out. Paul’s moves, including his Booker hook-up, suggest a bet on classic old-versus-new contrast – the reason behind that black-dude-with-the-non-Anglo-name’s meteoric rise in 2008. There’s no guarantee youthful spirits still geeked against drones, the NSA and pot prohibitions will be that ginned up over an old white lady who plays it safe and makes obscene amounts of cake on the lecture circuit (but, get back at me if Liz Warren jumps in). So Paul hopes that 2016 will look itself in the mirror and find wrinkles of 2010 and 2014: a built-up, anxious proletariat mess of anti-establishment pitchforks pitted against the establishment, including a jaded insurgency of young libertarians looking for Mr./Ms. Authentic.

So what can Cory do for Rand? Their bromance helps Paul shape an image of realness and brave new world Caucasianism: Booker is public black wingman, in a way that goes beyond cocktail parties, pick-up lines and Bro-bashes at the bar. Paul gracefully plugs it into his diversity commando routine to rebuild the Republican Big Tent. And putting big bills on the table makes their partnership about substance, not just a one-of-my-best-friends-is thing.

Hence, Paul rides Booker’s black rising star in hopes some of it can shine on him. Perhaps, by this time during summer of 2016, a decent enough chunk of black voters will come around and say ‘any friend of Cory is a friend of mine.’ And, who knows, maybe the winds shift comfortably enough for Paul to give that much of an independent or third party-lite vibe to view Booker as a running mate – which is not outside the realm of possibility since John McCain saw the same in ex-Democrat Joe Lieberman back in ’08 (only to be shot down by overbearing flacks). That will smell authentic enough to seem different, with both candidates tapping hard into their extensive grassroots and digital networks in such a way that shakes it all up.

Of course, Paul’s smart enough to know that African Americans despise the GOP to the tune of 95 percent-plus voting Democrat in the last two presidential cycles. Yet, he also knows that President Obama won’t be on the ballot in two years, a reality gripping many Democratic strategists and liberal activists in cold, late-night sweats. Most black folks weren’t voting for the party – they were voting for the candidate.

Hinting at that is a just-dropped Human Events/Gravis Marketing poll on the heated U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan and challenger Thom Tillis. Nothing unexpected really jumps at you on the Hagan/Tillis spread, but it gets interesting once you find 10 percent black support for Paul in a hypothetical match-up against Clinton and 14 percent black support against Warren – in addition to 36 percent and 37 percent, respectively, in Latino support. That may sound low, but it’s still significant for a GOP candidate in a key presidential state Obama lost by only two points in 2012. That’s still enough to eat away at Democratic margins.

In 2016, the issue won’t be so much how high or how low crucial black turnout will be. The question will center on just how much black voters will like or dislike the Republican guy. If Paul can keep the black anti-GOP heat low, he might find a narrow path to the White House by keeping African-American turnout for Democrats under, say, 85 percent. Again, Cory can help with that, along with creatively designed photo-ops of Paul visiting black colleges and urban churches for good measure.

But, also key will be the younger 18-30 black Millennial vote that feels Booker’s energy, social media madness and against-the-grain Selfie-ology. Most won’t go for Paul, but it’s possible that a quarter of that bloc votes for him. Paul sees the convergence of two lines and begins thinking outside the box: a cross between declining black affiliation with the Democratic Party (from 78 percent in 1984 to 64 percent, per Gallup, in 2012) and a steady rise in Americans identifying as “independent” (including the 29 percent who are black). And even though 44 percent of African Americans, according to a recent YouGov poll, have a favorable opinion of presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, 23 percent don’t know. Imagine if Paul can grab 15-20 percent of the black vote (or watch it stay home) in key battlegrounds by making his pitch to the young, disenchanted and recession-damaged base of black voters who either didn’t exist during the Clinton presidency or were too busy playing alphabet blocks to remember it.

What happens to Booker then? Obviously, he can’t openly endorse Paul over Clinton, unless he sees a future we don’t see—or envisions going out in an Afro Samurai blaze of political seppuku. But, neither is it all that easy to embrace a presumptive Clinton juggernaut against the wishes of skeptical Millennials who view the Twittering pol as one of them. It’s a bit more tricky and treacherous for the ex-mayor who once jumped into a raging fire to save a constituent. And to paraphrase the immortal words of Booker’s Jersey brother, politics ain’t burning buildings.