Blog pimp troll warning!
I guess that’s why Ted Yoho beat the smack out of long-timer Cliff Stearns.
Give me a break.
Concern troll?
Just damn.
Peddle it somewhere else.
No one said anything about the Tea Party winning every race.
But they are winning ENOUGH to make a real clear statement.
If anyone needs to be concerned it is OWS. As far as we can tell, their candidates haven’t managed to turn off the Farmville and put on pants yet.
Nevertheless, there are so many more successes than failures as to leave me not at all worried.
Every race is different. And things happen that are unexpeced in every race. One tea party candidite lost against a committee chairman, but then another won against a committee chairman.
The point is to get as many tea party people elected of course, but these politicians who have successfully defeated tea party candidates will have to be looking over their shoulder when they cast their votes. They are feeling the pressure of the people. And that’s a good thing.
Ultimately, it’s the candidate who must attract voters. We can help, but it would be foolish to think we’ll win everything.
A more accurate name for this blog would be:
Free Tripe dot com
Even the vaunted Murderers Row Yankees of 1927 and The Big Red machine of 1976 did not win every single game. It’s all about winning percentage and the Tea Party is looking mighty strong this season.
I live in Sandy Adams new district and voted for her. Unfortunately, Mica is supported by the establishment big time and had a TON of money behind him. He started advertising here early and was relentless. He also went on Greta several times, among other programs I’m sure, touting his conservative bona fides. He talked about waste and spending as if he had nothing to do with it but, by God, he’d fixed if (re) elected.
Mica’s a loser but he knew he was up against it with Sandy if he didn’t destroy her. Palin jumped in late; too late for Sandy’s benefit.
I live in the 7th district in Florida - a district that, in spite of an overwhelming Republican majority in our legislature, was created in the recent post-census redistricting. District pitted our longtime congresscritter, John Mica, with Tea Party-supported Sandy Adams who had finished her 1st term as congresscritter from a then-district involving primarily Brevard County/Space Coast. Adams had not had any involvement in our area, while Mica has been in Congress since 1993. Mica was a bit of a conundrum, in that while he was a big-govt spender (esp with transportation issues), he had an otherwise good conservative voting record. Thus, he was able to get significant support from both establishment and even some well-known conservative figures. There was not a significant local push (that I could see) to get Mica out of congress.
Furthermore, Adams ran a horrible campaign. She was barely visible, with the exception of 1 very good ad that ran a fair amount; I didn’t see any email and only a little social media presence. And, in spite of Sarah Palin’s (whom I adore) support, this was limited to robocalls (no ads, in-person campaigning, etc). Contrast with Mica who ran a very aggressive campaign with not only extensive TV ads, but direct mailing and a very sophisticated email and social media campaign. It was obvious that Mica was much better funded, organized and strategized. No one in his previous district was surprised Mica won going away.
I wanted to describe this race in detail in order to argue against extrapolating its result to a “demise of the Tea Party” meme. This was a rather unusual race, pitting 2 sitting congress critters in a newly cobbled district with 1 of the critters having a decades’ long presence there and the other essentially no presence. We don’t love Mica, but - outside of his penchant for mega-transporation boondoggles - he does seem to be pretty reliable votes for conservative budgets, repeal O’care, right to life, etc.
Looking at the US Senate primary, again no one was surprised that Connie Mack did well. He has extraordinary name recognition (past US Congress, legacy political family in Fla) and truly very little was known about his poorly funded opponents.
Florida is a truly battleground state with, even on the Repub side, a mixture of extremely red areas and some purplish ones. It has a history of “moderate” GOP statewide election winners (Jeb Bush, Mel Martinez) but occasionally will propel true conservatives (eg Rick Scott) into statewide office. Given Florida, I would contend that the Tea Party in Florida DID do well on Tuesday. Alan West won overwhelming in a liberal S. Florida district. And, in the 3rd district (N. Florida), longtime congresscritter Cliff Stearns was upset by little known and TEA PARTY FAVORITE veterninarian Ted Yoho (no prior political experience). So, like we saw in 2010, the TP has significant grassroots power nationwide and in Fla. Does that translate to winning every election? Certainly not, as some are obviously much “fairer” contests (pitting GOPe vs TP philosophy) than others. Additionally, we have to keep in mind that the TP is only 2-3 years old, yet its influence has grown such that the GOP-e-ers know that it’s a force to be reckoned with (even when they get into Washington). And, it’s doubtless that the makeup of the 2013-14 Congress will have more TP influence than the present 2011-12 one. Despair not!!
Thompson won in WI because there were three other TEA party conservatives running and they split the vote.
Thompson only got 34% of the vote and he had name recognition, and ran on the message that he could defeat the lesbian demonRAT lefty bitch in November.
In Florida, Stearns, 12 term pubbie incumbant, was booted by the TEA party, so I'm not sure what the blogging promoter is referring to.
The defeats the Tea Party faced in Indiana and Texas should serve... as a.. warning....
...oh, wait.
Pardon me, but bullsh#t. Sandy Adams ended up in an unfortunate and likely unwinnable situation. Due to redistricting she was up against Mica, who by and large is a pretty good congressman. He’s been in dc too long, and I would have voted for Adam if I were in her district, but this was not a central tea party battle. Mica had tons of money and flooded the airwaves. He is the biggest figure in national politics in central Florida. Adams is a first termer, running in a district rebuilt to include a lot of people from Mica’s district. I don’t know anyone who thought she had a chance in this one. Mica is no Lugar. There is no groundswell to get rid of him. In a perfect world, both would have been going back to DC next year .
“rightjb” is the definition of “http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2594943/posts";
Your posting history dictates that all you do is pimp your blog over and over and much of it is anti-tea party, anti Paul Ryan and mostly garbage lefty crap. You never comment. You never debate. Surprised you are allowed to post your garbage here.
The TEA Party has come a long way in a short period of time.
Heck, even Babe Ruth struck out once in awhile.
The TEA Party movement is just beginning.....dems and RINO’s, you’ve been warned.
Tommy Thompson was a very successful Governor in WI, and while tea party activists have had some gripes about him, those that remember what WI was like before he came to office were not going to write him off over them by and large.
National movements don’t make or break on 1 battle. Indicator, maybe, but I sure wouldn’t be writing Thompson winning a primary as an indication the Tea Party is defunct, or failing.