You're underestimating the precarious position the GOP is in. One thing the Tea Party grassroots movement has done is expose many of the false conservatives for the elitists they are. Election after election the same promises made go unfulfilled. We always wondered why? Now we know. Their desire for a political career trumps their commitment to the US Constitution. Well, I'm here to tell you, the jig is up! They either do the job they're elected to do or they're gone! Many of those presumed to be presidential candidates are a part of the "elitist" crowd. If elected, they offer nothing in the way of real reform in Washington, DC, only more of the same.
What the GOP has not acknowledged is that the Tea Party movement is not made up of Republicans. After the election the GOP seems to think that the Republican Party won...it did not....the conservative candidates that were on the Republican ticket won. The Independents are really already the third party...and are willing to go to either party’s candidate that supports the Tea Party principles. I see it everytime in the smugness of Karl Rove’s face as he goes on and on about the Republicans....Conservatives won that election!!....not the RINO GOP old guard.