>
> By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / September 15, 2010
>
> In recent months, the "tea party" movement has swept across the
> political landscape, sending shivers through both major political
> parties and shaking up this year's midterm elections.
>
> Skip to next paragraph View gallery: Tea Parties
> Related Stories
> 'Tea party' is polarizing, but has many 'closet admirers,' poll finds
> 'Tea party' Contract From America: Real plan or bumper sticker? Tea
> Party - All coverage What began as a minor insurgency featuring
> protesters waving signs of dubious syntax, followed by racially tinged
> conspiracies about President Obama's lineage and religion and
> ostentatiously displayed firearms – and cheered on by some
> conservative commentators and bloggers – is now winning elections that
> could determine the balance of power in the US Congress. (The main
> question here is, does the trend favor Republicans or Democrats?)
>
> There is no such thing as the "tea party." It is not organized as
> such, and in fact the movement in some sense is antiparty – even
> though most of its political pot-stirring has been within the GOP.
>
> IN PICTURES: Tea Parties
>
> Join our conversation about the tea party on Facebook.
> The "Taxed Enough Already" movement took initial aim at federal
> government attempts to bail out and then stimulate a faltering economy
> – attempts that had begun during the Bush administration – as well as
> at the Obama administration's push for health-care insurance reform.
>
> If the movement had a symbolic beginning, it was in January 2009 with
> stock-trader Graham Makohoniuk's call to mail tea bags to members of
> Congress. Conservative bloggers took up the theme, CNBC's Rick
> Santelli made his famous rant against government help for underwater
> home mortgages, and public protests around the country began.
>
> Since then, the movement has sprouted (although not been defined or
> controlled by) several major organizations.
>
> Tea Party Patriots says it has more than 1,000 community-based tea
> party groups around the country. The group's mission is to "attract,
> educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public
> policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility,
> Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets," according to
> its website.
>
> FreedomWorks, chaired by former US House majority leader Dick Armey,
> claims "hundreds of thousands of grassroots volunteers nationwide."
> FreedomWorks goes back to 1984, but has become a major source of the
> tea party movement's promotion and activities. It was an organizer of
> last Sunday's Taxpayer March on Washington.
>
> Page: 1 | 2
> The Tea Party Express, based in Sacramento, Calif., was a major force
> behind the Republican primary victories of Sharron Angle in Nevada,
> Joe Miller in Alaska, and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware. It was also
> a major donor to Scott Brown's successful campaign for US Senate in
> Massachusetts.
>
> Skip to next paragraph View gallery: Tea Parties
> Related Stories
> 'Tea party' is polarizing, but has many 'closet admirers,' poll finds
> 'Tea party' Contract From America: Real plan or bumper sticker? Tea
> Party - All coverage There may not be a "tea party" per se, but its
> adherents' philosophy and aims are officially represented on Capitol
> Hill. In July, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) of Minnesota formed the Tea
> Party Caucus. Fifty lawmakers quickly joined the group.
>
> While national organizations and grass-roots groups have their own
> stated goals, there is a tea party manifesto of sorts, which
> candidates are being encouraged to endorse. It's the Contract From
> America, launched by Ryan Hecker, an attorney and activist in Houston.
>
> Meanwhile, a clearer picture of tea partyers is emerging.
>
> In March, the Sam Adams Alliance, a Chicago-based nonprofit, issued a
> report based on a national survey of the tea party movement, its
> leaders, and their motivations.
>
> Among the findings:
>
> • 86 percent oppose the formation of a third party.
> • 36 percent support a 2012 Sarah Palin presidential candidacy.
> • 81 percent have a website for their organization.
> • 90 percent cited "to stand up for my beliefs" when characterizing
> their initial reason for involvement.
> • 62 percent identified as Republicans, 28 percent as Independents, 10
> percent as "Tea Party."
>
> "Tea Party activists are for the most part new to this role," the
> report states. "They are neither practiced nor polished in activism;
> but having experienced a taste of the empowerment that comes with
> action, they feel more than ever that this is their time to act. Above
> all, they are motivated by a fear of NOT acting.... Their diversity is
> their strength, and they are not a movement that can easily be defined
> by those jumping up to lead them. They are powerful and, in this
> sense, they are the 'early adopters' of a new type of political
> involvement."
>
> More recently, the Sam Adams Alliance reports that significant numbers
> of newcomers to the tea party movement are dropping their affiliation
> with the GOP: Forty-seven percent changed their political affiliation
> to "Independent/unaffiliated," 20 percent changed to "other," 20
> percent to "Tea Party," and 13 percent to "Libertarian."
>
> That's exactly why Republicans as well as Democrats are very concerned
> about this new movement in American politics.
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