Washington Times:
Republicans, once ecstatic about the energy generated by the 2009 anti-spending tea party uprising, are growing increasingly uneasy about the impact in 2012 of a movement that seems beyond the control of anyone, including its own leaders.
“The nature of the tea party and liberty movement is that there really are very few, if any, authoritative spokespersons,” said Ryan Call,Colorado GOP chairman.
“The fact that the grass-roots movement is somewhat leaderless is one of its strengths, but it also makes the movement susceptible to individuals or groups co-opting the ‘tea party label in inappropriate and damaging ways, like we saw in the May 24 New York 26th [Congressional] District special election.”
In interviews with The Washington Times, Republicans said they see two problems ahead.
One is that Democrats benefit from fake tea party candidates siphoning crucial votes from a Republican candidate.
The other is the ongoing tendency of the Republican establishment to invite tea party rebellions by picking more-liberal candidates, such as Dede Scozzafava, who lost another Republican-leaning New York congressional district in a special election in 2009.
In last week’s New York election, Democrat Kathy Hochul upset Republican Jane Corwin, 47 percent to 43 percent.
Millionaire Jack Davis drained votes from Mrs. Corwin by spending $3 million of his own money to gather enough petition signatures to get himself on the ballot identified as the “tea party” candidate, despite a history of running as a Democrat and his liberal stances on spending and other key tea party issues.
Some Republican operatives blamed the confusion on the failure of local tea party groups to unite behind Mrs. Corwin and to expose Mr. Davis as a fake.
“The local Republican Party in that district should have reached out to tea party types to make sure Davis, who got 9 percent of the vote, didnt get the traction he needed in order to get that 9 percent,” longtime Republican campaign consultant Kenny Klinge said.
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The Republicans could fight back by putting "Green Party" candidates on the ballot to drain liberal votes. There is a special problem in New York where the party hierarchy picks the candidate in special elections instead of voters. It does not give the voters time to really learn who is who on the ballot. But, Tea Party leaders can do more to let people know who is really their candidate.
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