I know that most Freepers probably wish the Dems would disintegrate and just disappear, but I was hoping that they would be replaced with a vigorous left-wing party. Why? Because when our opponents are center-left, our leaders end up going center-right and the net result is a middle-of-the-road "bipartisan" government that is effective at nothing. The only thing you can accomplish from the middle of the road is to get hit by oncoming traffic.
I was secretly hoping that the PUMAs would go to the Green Party. I mean, they're running Cynthia McKinney. She's not only a woman, but she's black — she's an identity politics wet dreams. And she's ultra-liberal; what's there for a Hillary supporter not to like? If the Green Party got 30-40% of the vote in 2008, it would start to attract big names and big money. In some states, like Vermont, they'd be strong. In many others, they'd be weak, but given some momentum, they could get stronger. Lefties would be energized by a party that really stood for what they believed in.
A really vital and strongly-defined left-wing party would allow the Republicans to run as "not those guys" to some extent, but it would also allow us to say, "No, we're really not them," and to make our differences clear. Today, a lot of people don't really see much of a difference between the parties, and sometimes, it's really hard to tell, but that would end if there was a real left-wing party.
Of course, the disintegration of the Dems and the rise of the Greens would cost the left their place in national politics as they regrouped and built their base back. This would, of course, be good for us.
Unfortunately, this didn't happen. The supposed "center-left" is ascendant this year and the "center-right" is in disarray. If there's an opportunity for an established party to give way to a rising third party, it may be the Republicans being replaced by the Libertarians.
The entrenched major parties (both of them) will fight that, because a strong right-wing party is going to have the same effect as a strong left-wing party: it's going to move people out of the middle of the road and make it harder to "swing" voters. I think that would be a good thing. I'm tired of feeling taken for granted because my values and allegiances are stable.
The GOP never wanted to destroy the Dem party, and the Dems will never completely destroy the GOP. They need each other, otherwise the remaining party would soon split with no boogeyman to scare everyoen back onto the plantation every four years.
Here’s a vanity I wrote several years ago about this: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1509680/posts