To me the only thing holding the loosely affiliated tea party patriots together is their desire for spending cuts and lower taxation.
Lets face it the tea party is a collection of dissatisfied GOPers fed up with broken promises and compromise, libertarians, younger conservatives who are mostly concerned with the economy and the fiscal side of things, a few independents sick of the crap, and also a few opportunists.
How will going back in the direction of the religious right not split the tea party/conservative vote???
*This question does not reflect on my personal views as much as it does the reality of the voting public in my opinion.