Tea Party Activists Gaining Steam Across the Country
From Florida to California, conservatives are challenging moderate Republicans.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2010— -- A political movement is sweeping the country, and taking politicians down.
The most recent victim of "tea party" activists was Florida Republican Jim Greer, who resigned from as state party chairman this week, in part because of the activists' objections to his alliance with Florida's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
The activists are vocally supporting Crist's opponent -- a young, outspoken conservative, Marco Rubio -- and some believe the tea party group may bring down Crist, too.
"As you know, there is a great debate in our party on the direction, moderates versus conservatives," Greer told Talking Points Memo. "Over the last six months there has been a very vocal group within our party that has become very active in seeking an effort to oust me as chairman."
Tea party activists in California may cause the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company to lose her bid for the U.S. Senate because she's not conservative enough.
And in Kentucky, Rand Paul, the son of a former presidential candidate Ron Paul, is riding the tea party wave.
Next week, Eric Odom, the man most often regarded as the founder of the tea party movement, is taking a crew of tea party followers to Massachusetts, sensing the Democrat running for Ted Kennedy's old seat, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, might be vulnerable.
"Every group that organized rallies last year is now looking to be involved in the electoral process," Odom said.
So-called "tea party patriots" are members of a political movement sweeping America whose core beliefs center around fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets.
"I think Republicans definitely dismiss this at their peril. I also think Democrats, by trying to marginalize it, underestimate the anger out there," political analyst Matthew Dowd said.
The movement appears to be gaining momentum, thanks in part to members like Danita Kilcullen, a Florida military mom who has been organizing gatherings every weekend for 46 weeks and posting video on YouTube.
"We just don't give up. We're unrelenting," Kilcullen said. "The tea parties across America are going to have a great deal to say about who is in office."
