Will the Christianists break away from the Republicans?

Sullivan's been posting about the rumors that if Republicans nominate Giuliani (cross dresser, gay friendly, pro-gun control, pro-choice (all good), adulterer (not so good)), the Christianists will bolt and form their own party. I'm pretty skeptical that this will happen. I think it's more likely that the Christianists will threaten to do this, then Giuliani will meet with their leaders and negotiate various back room deals (some of which will be kept and some of which will be broken). He'll have some kind of "Jesus experience" and some prominent religious conservative will tell his followers that Giuliani isn't perfect but that he's a man of God. Then Giuliani will humble himself on some Christian talk radio show and--OH LOOK! AN IRANIAN! DEMOCRATS ARE TRAITORS! 9/11!! 9/11!!! 9/11!!!!!!!--and the Christianist foot soldiers will dutifully fall in line.

Of course, I'd love to see the the Christianists get their own party. I think this would be an enormously healthy development for our country. It would free the Republicans from the influence of the religious right, allowing them to become something else (maybe they'd just end up as fear-mongering, xenophobic, cronyist hacks, but that's better than fear-mongering xenophobic, cronyist hacks who are apocalyptic, puritanical, fundamentalists to boot.) This Christianist third party could ally with the Greens, the Reform Party, and other groups to push for reforms to break the lock of the two party system. And America would be able to see the Christian right wing in all its glory, unmoderated by the other elements in the Republican coalition. They'd get elected in some places at the local and state level, and probably make themselves look like total asses.

And of course, they'd split the votes that currently go to Republicans and throw the election to Democrats in a landslide. (Unless they managed to get those multi-party reforms in place before making their run.)