Wrong.
Santelli’s rant was NOT the start of the Tea Party.
He just gave a label to a movement that started in the 2006-2007 rebellion against Bush/McCain’s push for amnesty when average American citizens melted the Capitol Hill switchboards and servers.
Brown’s victory was against Obamacare, not in support of Tea Party principles (big government, taxation, Constitutional preeminence).
Virginians did not consider McDonnell a Tea Party candidate. He was a cure for the Warner/Kaine years and an alternative to a pale Democrat opponent.
Tea Party people may have cheered on the Democrat defeats by these three Republicans, but they were definitely NOT Tea Party candidates.
Believe whatever you want. If you think Santilli’s rant was not the start of the tea party movement, you can have that opinion, but there was no national movement or organization previous to that. The tax day events of 2009 was the beginning. There was no hint of tea party organization or movement during the 2008 primaries.