Yes, that is a good strategy. New York State’s Conservative Party has used that successfully. They hold their convention before the Republican state convention. Then the GOP has a choice: pick the Conservative candidate or have a split Republican vote and lose.
Of course New York has that system where someone can run on two different lines simultaneously, so it is a different logic that applies. Nationally, GOP couldn’t run same candidate as Tea Party. It’s a much bigger risk for Tea Party to pick a candidate. They could cause the best person to lose by doing that.
I don’t think the Tea Party has enough time to form a party that will be on the ballot in enough states to make a difference. So it would just be like a contest, not a real party selection. Then it could work like NY State: Pick our choice or be divided.
If the TEAparty tries to do anything aside from taking back the GOP, they will have screwed up.
I didn’t say anything about forming a party, I meant to get behind a single candidate before the primaries start.