re: #4 SteveMcG
What I mean is if a party loses they re-evaluate their ideology and see why it was rejected and how to change to win new elections.
If Romney loses the GOP will see a civil war between the moderates and the extremists. The moderates will claim the crazies drove voters away and the extremists will claim the moderates were rejected. That would be the internal civil war the GOp will go through. The crazies would win in my opinion.