While it is becoming increasingly certain that voters will punish Barack Obama?s Democrats in the US mid-term elections later this year for the poor economic climate and legislative paralysis, a new element promises to throw off the old political calculations: the Tea Party movement.
The TPM is a grass-roots conservative movement that espouses libertarian ideology?fiscal responsibility, limited government and constitutional principles. Named after the Boston Tea Party, an American Revolution era revolt against British taxes on tea, the modern-day TPM started gaining steam in spring 2009 but remains a loosely affiliated movement with no central authority. While the TPM?s cries of alarm focus on Obama?s ?socialism? and spending, tea partiers also blame the Republicans?once the party of small government and fiscal responsibility?for betraying conservative principles and racking up huge deficits under the Bush administration.
This growing conservative force is already making the Republicans rewrite their election playbook. If the TPM presents its own third-party candidates in the November elections, it will siphon off conservative votes, potentially handing victories to Democrats by splitting the opposition. Second, when TPM-backed candidates enter Republican primaries, moderate Republicans get pushed out (or further to the right) and conservative candidates win, which can make for a tougher general election fight. That?s how the Republicans lost a House seat they had held for nearly 150 years.
But the TPM can also work to the Republicans? advantage. Democrats lost a Senate seat in an upset January special election when TPM support propelled little-known Republican Scott Brown to victory in solidly Democratic Massachusetts. If Republicans manage to channel TPM activism in their favour, they may realise their dream of reclaiming the majority in November.
With stakes so high, Republican leaders are working hard to court?or neutralise?the TPM. The Republicans launched a site for sending virtual tea bags to Congress to protest against spending and taxes, and party chairman Michael Steele met with TPM representatives on Tuesday. Sarah Palin spoke earlier this month at the first-ever Tea Party Convention, where she called the TPM the ?future? of the Republican Party. Whether that is true or not, shrewd political manoeuvring could turn TPM into a major political force?for either party.
feedit@expressindia.com