That is not entirely true. Or at least it is not true so far that we can know. Leaving aside the fact that neither of the three looked quite prepared for the task, the role of the mainstream media should not have been a surprise. The GOP could have embraced a religious candidate such as any of these three with a passion and could have waged an organized campaign against the very media, treating the media as a condensed Democrat candidate. Instead the GOP decided to place all its bets on the economy, which, inconveniently, is not quite dead yet, and play to the undecided voter by appearing undecided themselves. They avoided the fight and now they have been defeated because of that. Let's hope they learned something.
You’re right - the economy isn’t dead yet. Until it is, spiritual principles will not return on a wider scale and enable a national majority of people of faith. And, until the GOP gets it’s priorities straight (a soul searching), I don’t know that they are the Tea Party’s ‘vehicle’.