This reminds me of an article David Frum wrote during the primary but points to futre behavior.

If Romney defeats Obama, we may get a more moderate GOP come back from the brink.

If Romney loses to Obama the GOP extreme wing will blame the GOP moderates and vice versa and an all out war will be fought to take over the GOP.

We can see the extremists kicked out of the GOP or we can see the moderates kicked out. The extremists would say the moderates were why they lost and moderates will claim the extremism was the reason Obama won.

cnn.com

How tea party could drive GOP to disaster:

Possibility 1: Romney is nominated, Romney is elected.

From the point of view of non-tea party Republicans, this is the ideal outcome of the 2012 election. Yet it is also an outcome that looks worryingly out of reach. As we enter the final 12 months of the election countdown, Romney still cannot rise above 30% support in his own party. Worse, while it’s easy to imagine (say) Herman Cain’s voters shifting to Rick Perry or vice versa, it is very hard to imagine where Mitt Romney will find the additional Republican votes he needs.

Possibility 2: Romney is nominated, Romney loses.

For non-tea party Republicans, this second outcome opens all kinds of ugly, ominous possibilities. If candidate Romney loses, tea party Republicans will claim that the GOP lost because it failed to nominate a “true conservative.” That claim may fly in the face of political math (how would a more extreme candidate win more votes?), but it will pack a lot of emotional punch. Intense partisans are always ready to believe that the way to win is to be more intense and more partisan. Back-to-back losses under John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 will open the way to an ultra-conservative nominee in 2016 — and a true party debacle.