The Tea Party movement has scalped establishment candidates from Alaska to Delaware. In New Hampshire on Tuesday, it faltered. After an extended vote count, establishment Republican Kelly Ayotte was declared the winner over her allegedly Tea Party-backed challenger, conservative lawyer Ovide LaMontagne, in the state’s Senate primary. What happened?
According to some pundits, nothing. Author Doug Schoen told National Review Online yesterday, “The election results demonstrate fundamentally and clearly that the tea-party movement is as powerful as the Republican Party – the Grand Old Party – and the now-weakened Democratic party. The results in Delaware, New Hampshire, and New York prove it as clearly as anything could.”
No, they don’t. The Tea Party movement is a powerful and positive force that is reshaping, at least for now, the Republican Party. But despite its victories in Delaware and New York, it failed in New Hampshire on Tuesday night.
In contrast with Delaware, where an establishment Republican faced a bona fide Tea Party insurgent, New Hampshire’s Republican U.S. Senate primary featured an anointed successor to retiring Sen. Judd Gregg (Ayotte), a conservative insurgent (LaMontagne) and two pro-choice, millionaire businessmen running to fix the economy (Jim Bender and Bill Binnie). Test question: Who was the Tea Party candidate?
Neither Bender nor Binnie became a Tea Party-backed candidate, even though both were political newcomers espousing fiscally conservative, pro-growth messages. LaMontagne, the 1996 gubernatorial nominee, was your standard Reaganite challenger who attracted the support of social conservatives and others seeking a proven conservative they could trust. But he was no Tea Party rabble rouser.
Which candidate got the Tea Party’s backing? Well, Sarah Palin endorsed Ayotte, the establishment candidate. Does that count? Only if Palin speaks for the entire Tea Party movement (which she does not) and endorsing the establishment’s hand-picked candidate amounts to leading a Tea Party insurgency (which it does not). Sen. Jim DeMint endorsed LaMontagne, but one endorsement does not a Tea Party insurgency make. The truth is, this was not a race shaped by the Tea Party, except in one possible way.
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The tea party people do not understand one fact if you get big in the system you become a target of the big boys and become the bitch of the system and deals are made.
We aint shakin….Bring it on, We will take the garbage to the can where it belongs. One thing You don't understand is we are going to throw the BIG BOYS out…. America is pissed off and we will just get stronger……
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the tea party people are being used by others
Stio referring to the tea party movement as a party. Remember, anuyone can vote in an primary election in New Hampshire.
There is a bit of tortured logic to this article. The truth is much simpler. It was the Palin factor. Her endorsement of the "establishment" candidate was the difference. And I say so as no great fan of Sarah Palin.
Totally agree. If a true conservative gets elected because they caused a split on the vote, who cares? The republican will have to live up to his own hype or he's a one term politician. And he knows it!
So what is your point?? The Tea Party is alive and well nation-wide, and has really rattled quite a few cages this week. I think it's great that the Establishment is getting its' bell rung (on both sides).
Very few republican and independent voters in New Hampshire thought of either of these candidates as teaparty candidates. What they were torn about, was whether to trust an untested candidate to shake things up in Washington, or fall back on a conservative with her feet solidly on the ground. They chose the latter.
The future of the "tea party" and the GOP is indeed bleak. Look at the demographics: both groups are mostly elderly, white, rich, malcontent republicans who are so old they will die soon. They represent only 3% of the people, the richest ones. The REAL future of this country is multicultural, under 25 years old, mostly brown, middle class and Democratic. C'mon tea partiers, hurry up and die. Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com
Have you been to a Tea Party lately a very different picture than the one you paint
If you disagree with Carol, just take a look at the photos of the anti-mosque demonstrators in one of the articles posted on this site today.
What planet are you from ? with your weak game….. are you one of those sniveling demo's? Why are you such a kiss -ss? Im so sick of hearing Your same old worn out DRIBBLE, Ill bet You like like that sell out obummer… he didnt do a damn thing for the black folks, the Banks own him, I can see you know the demos are done…..
You will have to wait a long time for me to Die I am only 38
Most Republicans in New England find social conservatism a little off-putting. After all, "good fences make good neighbors".
I would like to advise this website to please remove the comment about 'tea party backed' candidate. The tea party in NH cannot legally endorse a candidate and thus this comment could get them into trouble.
Who can I write to and have it removed?
I know Kelly and she's a moderate with women's issues.. She is NOT pro-life.
The Republican party is like the old conservative Democrats and needs restructering back to a traditional philosphy with a fairly strong conservative tone rather than being run by gutless RINOs who think like losers and the country club elitists that have a condescending contempt for the American people. The Democrats are anti-traditionalists who are bought and paid for by George Soros and all the one world government advocates.
One again..too many candidates.NH Republicans tend to shoot themselves in the foot. Sunnunu seems to have a firm lock on NH Republican party. Voted for Ovide as I agreed with everything I heard him say. Ayotte has always been too close with (D) Gov. Lynch. She better clear up her alledged pro-life status. Prochoice doesn't mean prolife.
Using the term "Tea Party" as some sure-fire marketing brand name will prove to be in the long run very poor strategy. There's such a thing as the inherent quality of the candidate regardless of what label gets stamped on. TP support can be a good thing, but it's not the final word on who's in and who's out.
None of them were Tea Party candidates.
Given that we are into the first stage of economic dictatorship under Obama, a path prepared for his actions by both Parties, the pro-freedom goal is clear. It stands to reason that, if this government does far more than the 18 authorizations given to it in Article I of the US Constitution, because of laws that empower it to do more, then the only way to get this government back under its original Constitutional limits is to REPEAL ALL of the pro-socialist legislation of the past 120 years.
A Tea Party, or pro-freedom, candidate for national ofice is one who exclusively dedicates his legislative career to the sole task of identifying and repealing (or phasing out) those laws. There can be no other task as important, in this generation, than getting this government back under its original Constitutional limits. And, no one has identified another way to accomplish that goal than Reform by Repeal.
Until you hear Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, or Sharon Angle say this, she nor they are Tea Party spokesman, no matter how loveable she is.
For details about the Tea Party, pro-freedom distinctives,, go to the Discussions tab of almost any Tea Party site on Facebook and read "How to Recognize a Pro-freedom Candidate", "Tea Party Questions for Political Candidates", and "Tea Party Declaration of Independence from Political Party Loyalties".
The Tea Party movement isn't just about getting this or that candidate elected. It's mainly about dragging the Republican party, kicking and screaming, back to conservatism.
Remember, everyone is a conservative during election years. The Republicans all pretend they're Reagan and the Dems all swear that they're mostly conservative with some center-left leanings. Then the second the election is over, the Dems revert to socialism and the Reps go along for the ride and start the occasional pillow fight over some tiny, inconsequential tax cut.
The deal with the Tea Parties is shift this dynamic. Let's stay focused.
The tea party people are being used for the same reasons as many others are being used not by parties but for the total control of all people, To see what the USA Will look like in 20 years all you got to do is just look at Mexico. the big money people are using you all and both political parties want this control over all things in your life, the tea party are just tools to a end game. if you really wanted to make THIS nation of freedom really work right; I would be president and the first thing i would do is to remove 40 million people at once and rebuild the MILITARY, and you don't want to know what i would do to drug dealers and gangs In fact most would hate me . but that will never happen and most people do not understand what the future holds for that stupid person and his or her life.
Uh… we just came off of several weeks where the Conventional Wisdom was that the Republican Party had already "taken over" the TEA Parties.
Big surprise… GOP-favored candidates LOST too many of the primaries for that to be true.
No, we are groups (and not just one, but many) who are genuinely grassroots. We just told the elitists in the Republican party and the Democrat party that they are the ones out of tough. They laugh and sneer at us for being "uneducated rubes"… and THEY are the ones who aren't smart enough to read the freakin' job description: The government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
We The People have had it and are taking over.
correction: "out of tough"="out of touch".
I hope you are right, if what i see most people would jump off a building.
Why all the fuss? Kelly Ayotte is a very good, strong candidate who won the GOP primary fair and square. Now, may she win the general election in November and be New Hampshire's new U.S. Senator next year.
I don't know what will happen, and neither do you. However, I can say that I have not seen anything like this in my lifetime. What is so "fringe" about not giving the federal government power that is not delegated by the constitution. "That" is the law of the land. Now, how many of these people will ultimately follow that direction? We don't know that either. What we do know is that the current crop of politicians, particulary on the federal level, both Republican and Democrat, have been advancing illegal legislation for decades, so it is a pretty good bet they would continue to operate illegally.
It sounds like Kelly Ayotte is an excellent Conservative Republican Candidate and once again Sarah Palin's support made a difference.
Liberals continue to poo-poo Sarah as she helps Conservative Republican candidates all over the country kick their butts.
Stop It.
Sarah has great instincts.