Without reading through all of this, I'd say trying to opt out of the Republican party is a huge mistake. I would guess the LP and The Constitution Party already cover most of what the base of the RLC is in third party form. I would think that there are way more advantages to sticking within the party. I always thought of third parties as being more about activism than actual results.
I think that the Constitution Party candidate for governor of Illinois will produce resutls this year. The current governor is a first-term Democrat who received 52% of the vote in 2002. The republican nominee, State Treasurer Judy Topinka, is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. She's marched in a few gay pride parades. About 2/3 of Republicans I know won't vote for her. Many of them will vote for Randy Stufflebeam, of the Constitution Party. I don't think that he'll win, but he'll probably cause future republican statewide candidates to become more conservative.