They are scared of their own shadow

Establishment Republican vs. the Tea Party

They went away from their playbook (a running team throwing the ball - a folk band going electric) of no internal strife and getting their "product" to market first. It backfired on them because their angry mob, which was just supposed to initiate a fear of change, won't go away. They used the tea party to shine the light on themselves after a disastrous 2 year election span (2006-2008 elections) and they created a shadow. The only way to get rid of a shadow is to stay out of the light. In today's instant media you have to keep yourself in the light.

Now the shadow (an empty representation of reality) can actually beat the host by making reality out of the empty representations of the host. They actually embody the representations and the viewers could "primary" out the host in favor of the shadow. The best way to prevent that is to step out of the light....which the host can't do.

Nominating shadows vs. real people tends not to bode well but the gerrymandering since the 2010 census could hold things off. Only 17 House seats need to flip to change the majority. Banking on a shadow is shadowy business. Creating the shadow starts the process though.

Good luck battling your own shadow.