Check with me in November. I believe a number of conservatives will join them this time. The Republican Party is gone and is not salvageable.
Nah, conservatives will overwhelmingly turn out to vote for the only candidate that can beat Hussein. The GOP could have nominated a garden slug and it would get 90%+ of the conservative vote. Also, the Perot disaster is still too fresh in conservative leaders minds. They know a 3rd party on the right only helps Hussein win. Folks like Levin, Palin, Rush, etc, will reinforce this throughout the campaign.
The Republican Party is gone and is not salvageable.
Geeze, we just elected lots of Tea Party backed Republicans in 2010 to the House and at the local/state level. For a variety of reasons we didn't manage to get a good conservative nominated for President, and so many of you people are ready to give up and pout through the 2012 election. Pushing the GOP to the right is going to take many years. It will require a generation of conservative activists joining the party, actually participating in events, going to meetings, bringing in like-minded friends and family, etc. It isn't a 1, 2, 3 or even 4 cycle process.
I guess we will have to wait till November to know for sure, but I'd bet you the Constitution Party gets no higher percentage of the vote (.15%) than they did last time around. People know by now that 3rd party's only act as spoilers in the US, the vast majority of people that vote aren't willing to waste their ballot that way.