There is a fallacy in your assumption.
Cantor lost a primary for a seat in the House
Lindsey won primary for a seat in the Senate
In Va there was one strong conservative voice
There was no strong conservative voice in SC, as always, narrowly focused conservatives put up a lot of candidates to allow the various factions to vote their principles
There is actually no valid comparison in the two races permitting a conclusion to be drawn
Conservative unity wins is the lesson
Yep. IMO the best role for the tea party is to build a coalition around the best conservative candidate—and them back him or her through to election.
Tossing lots of marginal candidates out there without a focus on bolstering the single best one is a losing strategy at all levels of politics.