I think the Tea Party vs GOP establishment struggle as it characterized in the media could be a little oversimplified.
It could also be characterized as an incumbent versus challenger struggle. Anyone who knows anything about Poli Sci 101, knows full well that it is enormously difficult to take out entrenched incumbents. It always has been and always will be. The Eric Cantor defeat was more of the exception to the rule than anything else.
The Tea Party’s best chances going forward will be when they run high quality candidates in for OPEN seats like they did in Nebraska earlier this year.
The GOP has been extra cautious this year. In 2012 two US Senate seats were needlessly thrown away to the Dems in states that MR easily carried. This fact has weighed heavily in the minds of GOP primary voters this year coupled with the fact that incumbents tend to have enormous built in advantages and usually win.
Until the currency collapses and the guns come out. Let me know how it's going in down town Chicago when the welfare checks and food stamps are no longer worth anything.