'World News' Political Insights -- Tea Party's Boil Still Singeing Republicans

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2010 -- After all this time, and despite all those warnings, the tea party's boil still has the capacity to singe -- and even shock -- the Republican Party.

The overtime primary contest for Senate in Alaska -- with tea party favorite Joe Miller up a shocking 1,700 votes pending the counting of absentee ballots -- would mark perhaps the biggest upset of the election cycle, if Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, goes down in defeat.

National Republicans are pulling back in their support for Murkowski in a possible legal fight, in an acknowledgement of the likelihood of a Miller victory when the votes are counted.

That contest is unlikely to change the balance of power in the Senate, since either Republican would be a heavy favorite. But a Senator Miller would join a growing cohort of Republican senators -- new tea partiers plus like-minded veterans led by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. -- who owe little or nothing to GOP leadership and the party establishment.

Before we get there, tea partiers get a few more chances to exert their influence. Little-known Republican candidates for Senate in Delaware and governor in Maryland are hoping that, like Miller, a Sarah Palin endorsement plus tea party energy is a formula for beating far better-funded and better-known establishment candidates.

Then there's the fall, when tea party action in primaries could jeopardize Republican chances for pick-ups in Senate races in Florida, Nevada, Kentucky and Colorado.

Republicans in Washington have long argued that tea party enthusiasm is an unabashed positive for them, particularly when set against President Obama's lagging popularity, and the lack of excitement among rank-and-file Democrats this year.

But the continuing impact of tea party candidacies on elections strongly suggests that this is not a political phenomenon that will work itself out with no lingering damage to the GOP.

Many tea party activists contend that their movement does not adhere to either particular party -- and it may be that it doesn't boost either party substantially.