If Obama is re-elected I see the G.O.P. tearing itself apart. The Tea Party crowd is going to say (from its bubble) that someone from their wing should have been the nominee, whereas the more moderate group including people like Lindsey Graham and John Boehner will realize they need a wider tent and more
tolerance on social issues. I can see them engaged in a struggle for some time much like the Democrats were from 1968 through the election of Clinton. They had a left wing and a moderate wing which fought all the time. The results were nominees like McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis. Carter, more of a centrist, was an abberation, having been elected for only one term on the heels of Watergate and the pardon of Nixon.