It's refreshing that Specter is now free from Limbaugh's tyranny, and many conservatives have invited Snowe and Collins to leave as well. It would be great for Democrats to have a 62-seat majority in the Senate.
What is happening to the Republican Party, though, is not great: in the last year they have trumpeted leader after leader, only to be roundly mocked by an American populace who still holds them accountable for enabling the Bush regime's abuses (or worse). And the Republicans, in addition to being the Party of No, has been the Party of No Independent Thought. They've been that for years.
Several diarists have pointed out how really dead the Republican Party is in New England: Massachusetts and Rhode Island are Republican-free zones (there are some Reps in the state legislatures, but the federal designations are all Democrats, as is the governor). Connecticut and Vermont have moderate Republican governors, who no one seems to notice are quite different from national Republicans. Maine has their two Republican senators, who are getting increasingly isolated.
Rather than become Democrats, Snowe and Collins could pick a third way, which would preserve the party competition in this country, and still allow them to tell of Limbaugh and Beck. Also, Mainers elected Collins with over 60% of the vote, so it's clear that Mainers do not want a Democrat. (I know, Maine Democrats accuse the Maine newspapers of dishonestly portraying the race, but I still ascribe that intention to them.) Also, forming the new party would allow them to keep their entire party machinery.
Being Conservatives rather than Democrats would allow them to support Obama's policies, which Mainers want them to do, and also blame the Bush administration for the torture, rampant incompetence and corruption, etc.
There is a Conservative Party of New York, which is distinct from the Republican Party but usually endorses their candidates. According to Wikipedia, it's generally associated with Catholic New Yorkers though. There are strong Conservative parties in Canada and the UK, which advocate for smaller and more efficient government, individual liberties, and so on -- priorities which the Republicans still CLAIM to care about, but recently have just been giving lip service to.
I also think that Conservative Party would be a more comfortable home to Specter and Lieberman.
While I like watching the Republicans' harakiri, a Democracy can't function with just one party, and the Republicans were founded out of fragments of the dieing Whig Party: a new party would provide somewhere for those remaining reasonable Republicans to GO.