Tea Party Gets Early Start on Shaping 2012 Elections
Published April 01, 2011
| FoxNews.com
The Tea Party doesn't want to be a one-election pony, and is starting early to make sure candidates heed their call for budget cuts and limited government ahead of the 2012 election.
One faction of that movement, the Tea Party Patriots, held a small but vocal rally Thursday on Capitol Hill to pressure Congress to hold down spending for the rest of the year. The rally of about 100 people was a rather mild reminder of the Tea Party's might. Elsewhere, the strategists behind the multi-headed movement are plotting once again to make waves in the primaries and general election.
With the budget debate in full swing, they warn that any Republicans failing to live up to their vows to cut spending could face a challenge in the primary season. But as in 2010, different groups have wildly different goals.
Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips has been threatening to put somebody up against House Speaker John Boehner, griping that he's not done enough to get control of the debt.
