Since no one seems to be responding to your shouting, I'll give you a quickee response.
The GOP has to be cleansed from within. A third party choice is viable on a case-by-case basis.
What the Hoffman race has shown is that party officials chose a GOP candidate in wolf's clothing because, they opined, she was the only viable choice to win the seat. A certain percentage of her support was of registered GOPers that presumed she was primarily in line with conservative positions.
As it became clear that this woman was beyond the pale a movement began that gathered steam and Palin broke the dam, followed by...the followers. And presuming the poll numbers hold up the lie told by the GOP that only an ultra-RINO could win there has been proven to be pure fiction.
And that will be the thrust of the various challenges to candidates put forward by the GOP come next year and it will be the fight made before the primaries and in some cases after the primaries. So if your passion is brought on by the idea of a national third party I think, as of now, you are misreading the tea leaves for the most part.
In the coming election season you will see a significant shift in campaign contributions that instead of going to the GOP reelection committees will go directly to the candidate. If the GOP choice is strong the $ will flow to the candidate. If the GOP choice is too RINOish, $ will head to an independent or third party candidate. This is where you will see Palin creating a national movement and a grassroots base that she will need to mount a winning presidential candidacy.
Independent/third party candidates can win and caucus with the GOP when it is in the right and refuse to caucus when it is against basic conservative values.
The bottom line: the GOP big wigs are going to surely learn that they may have the reins to one of the two big parties but they are not the final choice by proxy. They have to earn it and if they refuse to do so then piece by piece, from both inside and outside of the party, they will be outgunned and forced to return to the party's foundational roots.
That was an excellent post and exactly what we need to do. Supporting a third party completely throws the baby out with the bath water. However, doing the same with the GOP gets us liberal candidates.
IF....a big IF....a true third party - and a conservative one at that - will ever hold major Federal offices (Congress, Senate, President), it will have to be recognized as such, and in national elections, beat both the dims and what's left of the rinos.
Other than that, you're just spittin' into the wind.