"I would say it's [NY-23] the tip of the spear," said Dick Armey, the former GOP House majority leader who now serves as chairman of FreedomWorks, an organization that has been closely aligned with the tea party movement. "We are the biggest source of energy in American politics today."

So the PP seem set on their course, sailing off to La-La Land.  

I go back to my original assessment: the Tea Baggers are driving this.  The party leadership and elected officials in both the GOP and DP are playing catch-up in a political (and economic and social and so on) environment that has completely shifted under their feet in the last five years.  Assuming the Baggers follow through, as they seem to be doing, the GOP targets of the Baggers are going to have to make a decision before the next filing deadline:

Do I run to the Right, risking the votes I NEED to win from the Center?  Do I run to the Left forgetting the GOP base and almost certainly lose the primary?  Do I use my incumbency and all the benefits of incumbency and do A Liberman?

I note Liberman was able to make his decision to run as an Independent due to Connecticut's election laws.  Some states have a Sore Loser Law and that option isn't available once the primary has decided the parties nominee.

I submit my "comfortable resolution" is, as of today, the likely resolution.  I just can't accept the Tea Baggers have enough demographic clout to win state-wide elections outside the South.  The polling isn't there for them.  

Last, I want to point out the "comfortable resolution" isn't what I would like to see.  In my projected re-alignment there's no room for a true Left party to emerge.  :-(