There is undoubtedly a disgust factor too, not only with Foley, Vitter, et al, but the images from Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and the general stench of very highly un-Jesus-like behavior among the Republicans. Oh and this:

“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’”
David Kuo, special assistant to president Bush from 2001 to 2003

Instead, I keep hoping that religion would be put on the back burner, once again. The spectacle of politicians compleitng about who is most religious gives both religion and politics a bad name, IMO.

There is not enough based for the Republican to maintain a base. The most likely scenerio is that the Republicans become irrelevent but manage to hang on such as the Republican Party in the District of Columbia or Mass. The Republicans will have no chance of winning but will keep some other party from starting.

However, with the financial demands of maintain a political party , I do not believe that the Republicans can stick around very long if they are irrelevent. The theory that a third party can start up that will be relevent has been shown to be untrue at the state level. Nothing has replaced the irrelevent Republicans in states like Mass, Rhode Island, or Vermont.

Also, why would another party start when more than 50% of the population will automatically vote for the Democratic candidate?

You should stop worrying about the possibility of a one party state because, historically, when a party collapses in this country another one replaces it. Sure, for a few years the Dems may have a monopoly, but it will not last. Only question remaining is whether or not the party that replaces the Republicans will be more radically conservative or more moderate. Also, I must point out that as long as the Republicans hold onto their base, they will not collapse.

1. Democrats only do poorly with religious whites. Since blacks and Hispanics are, on average, more religious than whites, the Democrats go great with religious non-whites.

2. I would propose that that best way to separate religious whites from the Republican Party would be to keep playing up sex scandals involving Republicans ala Rep. Foley.

Of course, in a few years, when the republican party totally collapse, religious whites will either vote in the Democratic Primary or have no say in politics.