I’m trying to get some thoughts about a 3rd party movement vs working within the Republican Party, or growing the Tea Party movement and having it get behind conservative candidates instead of the most conservative Republican, or......
Some polls say that nearly a third of the “TEA Party” are Romney-bots. Maybe the TEA Party doesn’t really know where it stands —lacks basic knowledge.
>>I’m trying to get some thoughts about a 3rd party movement
From a game theory standpoint, the reality of the matter is that a conservative 3rd party would just benefit the Democrats. Working within one of the existing party structures is the way to go, which has always been the goal of the TEA Parties. The Republican party was the natural one to choose since there were at least a few people who believed in fiscal sanity already there, unlike the Dem party.
Last election almost half of these positions were empty. Only those who are elected get to vote on party leadership. You are also in a position to impact the voters in your precinct in favor of your candidate. It only costs about $10 to register.
The other problems are getting the conservatives to agree on a candidate, and getting people to ignore the media propaganda machine/polls/hype.
The issue of electability can not be allowed to trump experience. That's how Obama got elected. The candidate must have experience as well as electability. Imperfections will exist for any candidate, because no one is perfect. Conservatives must also come up with a process to agree on a candidate, at least as soom as the GOPee.