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The party didn't make the field weak and didn't make voters split the notRomney vote.

That's flat out not true. The party is the one that went all in for Myth from the get go, with money, their hack consultants and ad men, with media coverage and the punditocracy. Money has been central to Mitt's success, he used the money from the GOPe to outspend Newt and destroy anyone that stood in his way. He will never do to Obama what he did to Newt, Santorum, Perry and Bachmann.

Even more significantly than his money, though was the GOPe's control over the process. Ever since Reagan stole the RNC from the Bush family, the Republican elites have worked desperately to ensure that no conservative could ever possibly wrest the nomination from the elites again. How do they do that? Easy, look at the timing of primaries and the rules for securing delegates. Conservatives, and the GOP in general, are located in the southeast and states like Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho. There are purple states like Iowa and Ohio. And then there are solidly blue states, like in New England, Minnesota, California, the Pacific Northwest.

What would a party that wanted to field a candidate representative of its values do? Well, it would hold a primary process in which the core of its base was most prominent in choosing the candidate. States like Texas and Alabama would lead the way, both in temporal terms and in terms of the number of delegates awarded. A state like California, that has ZERO chance of voting for the Republican candidate, should not have much say in who the Republican candidate is. A state like Texas, that is GUARANTEED to vote for the Republican, should have an outsized say in who that will be.

But, ever since GHW Bush's loyal service to the Gipper earned him the nomination, and thus control of the RNC, the RNC has diligently worked to ensure that the process is front-loaded with liberal states and with states from the Northeast, where the GOPe has its base. The RNC ensures that delegates from liberal states get the same value as those from conservative states.

This was the case to some extent before Reagan, but not so pronounced, which is why he was able to get through the early primaries and secure the nomination down the road against an RNC that was decidedly against him. He also had some advantages that are not available to candidates today, due to financing laws. He had an independent source of funds and was able to use alternative ways to get his message out, due to his ability to communicate. It would be very difficult to get any conservative nominated today.

Thus, the GOPe has a lock on the nomination. That gave us Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush, McCain and now, probably, Romney. I said last time that McCain was my last RNC hold my nose vote, and that was only because of Palin. That if the party could not be reformed in a way that allowed a conservative to get the nomination, then the party had to be abandoned by conservatives.

Well, the party has proven that it is not about to allow a conservative to get the nomination. Whatever it takes, the RNC will do it to ensure that the progressive wing of the party gets the nomination. For conservatives, that means that there is no future in the Republican party, at least at the Presidential level, and with Boehner and McConnell running things, at the Congressional level, too. The question is at what point do we dump the RNC. Now, or next time. Or the time after that? Or maybe in 2024?

I decided in 2008 that 2008 was my last vote for a Progressive. I am sticking with that at the Presidential level, and voting solidly Republican down the line. For this election, I am hoping for a third party to rise up. This thread has certainly exposed the reasons why it is needed, and why it has a chance to supplant the GOPe.