The Tea Party appears to be sticking to its original vision as a grassroots awareness entity, not a political party. Seems to me that many of the folks who were active in the TP are Ron Paul supporters as a candidate since he's not played to win so much as hes used the campaign to raise awareness. Interestingly enough, the Tea Party grabbed a broad spectrum of race, religion, geography, even political parties - there are some moderate Dems that feel they have more in common with the TP than with where their party is going. Ron Paul has also brought out young typically liberal voters, winning 49% of the under 30 vote in Iowa - if you cut out everyone over 40, he won in a landslide. These are the folks the Dems target, and most folks are at the most liberal when they're young. But they are not happy with the way things are, and they don't trust the DEM or GOP agenda, starting to sound alike.
I'd rather the TP not become a 3rd party and stay where they are, but from their ranks a 3rd party could grow that would draw from those that are just fed up and tired and would like to get off the merry go round.