Commentary By Ron Beasley
I thought from the very beginning that the Tea Party was going to blow up in the face of the Republican party. Although there is an element of bigotry the Tea Party activists have some legitimate concerns and those are not the same as the astroturffing oligarchs like Dick Armey.
Well they may not have figured out that Armey is not on their side but are they already hurting the Republicans? Marc Ambinder doesn't think so.
With the exception of Scott Brown's miraculous Senate race victory in
Massachusetts -- and even there, one can question the premise -- has the
Tea Party movement really done anything to help the Republican Party
this cycle?[....]
Indeed, a case can be made
that, in the states and races where the Tea Party has been active, just
the opposite has happened: the Republican candidate has been weakened,
and the Democratic candidate has been strengthened.
He points out that Tea Party candidate Rand Paul has turned what should have been a slam dunk for the Republicans into a competitive race. And then there is Marco Rubio:
In
Florida, there are two explanations for Marco Rubio's rise: 1) He was
his own guy, very popular already, was already capitalizing on
discontent with Charlie Crist, was quietly being aided by Jeb Bush's
fundraising network, and received an assist from the Tea Party movement
at county conventions. 2) The Tea Party made Marco Rubio. In either
case, Charlie Crist bolted from the party, and Rubio has less of a
chance to win the general election now than he did -- meaning that a
Democrat or an independent who will caucus with the Democrats might be
able to pick up a Republican held seat.
Will the Tea Party deliver a pick up for the Dems in Florida? And then there is Nevada. Now the Nevada Republican party is a train wreck but so is Nevada's Democratic Senator, Harry Reid. But if the Tea Party Candidate, Sharron Angle, wins the nomination Reid is almost guaranteed a trip back to DC.
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