Conservatives to have helping hand 2010

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Conservatives to have helping hand 2010
6
Fri, 12-18-2009 - 2:03pm


Oh, spiffy!  And guess who they're having speak at their 'convention' in February...Sarah Palin...{gagging!}






BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / GETTY IMAGES


Protesters gather, march and hold signs during the Tea Party Express rally Sept. 12 in Washington, D.C. Tens of thousands of protesters from across the country marched to the National Mall near the Capitol to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the government.



JOHN MOORE / GETTY IMAGES


William Temple, a conservative tea-party activist from Brunswick, Ga., protests the Senate health-care bill Tuesday in Washington.




Conservatives to have helping hand in 2010



By Dan Eggen and Perry Bacon Jr


The Washington Post



The energized "tea party" movement, which upended this year's political debate with noisy anti-government protests, is preparing to shake up the 2010 elections by channeling money and supporters to conservative candidates set to challenge both Democrats and Republicans.


Buoyed by their success in capsizing a moderate Republican candidate this fall in upstate New York, tea-party activists and affiliated groups are unveiling new political-action committees and tactics aimed at capitalizing on conservative opposition to current health-care legislation, financial bailouts and other Obama administration policies. The goal is to harness the anger that led to hundreds of protests across the country from spring to fall, including a gathering of tens of thousands of protesters on Washington's National Mall in September.


The strategy poses both an opportunity and a risk for the beleaguered Republican Party, which is seeking to take advantage of conservative discontent while fielding candidates who appeal to independent voters. Fundraising efforts are just beginning, but tea-party activists already have inspired serious challenges to establishment GOP Senate candidates Carly Fiorina in California and Charlie Crist in Florida. A similar insurgency in last month's New York race splintered Republicans, leading to a Democratic victory.


"It's time to take control," conservative activist Eric Odom declares on the Web site of his new political-action committee, Liberty First PAC, which will "support fellow patriots looking (to) defend our liberty." Odom, who played a central role in organizing the first tea-party protests last spring, says the PAC will not back incumbents of either party.


Smart Girl Politics, a conservative women's group active in persuading people to attend tea-party protests, is considering forming a PAC to steer its 23,000 members to help conservative candidates.


Another activist, Erick Erickson of RedState.com, plans to encourage donations to conservative challengers such as GOP Senate candidate Pat Toomey, seeking the Pennsylvania seat held by Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter.


And in Washington, D.C., FreedomWorks, an advocacy group that helped organize many major tea-party protests, has begun raising money through a reorganized PAC targeting its 500,000 registered members, said Matt Kibbe, the group's president. Chaired by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, the group says its fundraising effort will be modeled on the Internet financing juggernaut created by Barack Obama in 2008.


"We're looking at the potential of raising small checks from a vast number of donors, just as Obama did," Kibbe said. "We've been studying everything about the Obama primary strategy, and I happen to think the tea-party movement could make even the Obama grass-roots machine look obsolete."


But Kibbe and others acknowledge they are not near that point yet, and political experts in both parties say it is unclear if the movement can become the kind of unified force that can win, and not just disrupt, elections.


The tea-party movement is splintered into hundreds of local and state-level groups that have differing rules and goals, and for the most part have not participated in big-money politics. Many groups have been torn apart by personal feuds in recent months; one major umbrella organization, the Tea Party Patriots, has filed a lawsuit against a founding board member who signed on with a rival, the Tea Party Express.


Remainder of article at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2010536398&zsection_id=2003905675&slug=teaparty18&date=20091218


 


Also, I'm so sick & tired of conservatives saying that 'no one is listening to them'!  Just because many don't AGREE with them, doesn't mean that we aren't listening.  If they can't have their own way...then no one's listening I guess...sigh...


 


Husky Logo cl-nwtreehugger  Photobucket








Community Leader for:  Photobucket









The WeatherPixie
6yrvolunteer 


Happy Holidays!


Happy Hanukah!


Blesssed Yule!


Merry Christmas!


Joyous Kwanzaa!
Happy Holidays!


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 12-18-2009 - 2:19pm
Ah, this would make another chapter in her NEXT book! LOL The woman is a joke!
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2007
Fri, 12-18-2009 - 2:21pm

How can we help but not listen to them.....they yell and scream and shout their agendas so loudly, no other voices can be heard, especially those from a bit left of center!!


I quit drinking tea as a silent protest....;)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 12-18-2009 - 4:05pm

>"Buoyed by their success in capsizing a moderate Republican candidate this fall in upstate New York"<


The writer failed to mention in doing so

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 12-18-2009 - 4:08pm

"I quit drinking tea as a silent protest....;)"


Oh noooooooooooo! That much sacrifice isn't called for.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Fri, 12-18-2009 - 9:35pm

How can we help but not listen to them.....they yell and scream and shout their agendas so loudly, no other voices can be heard, especially those from a bit left of center!!


And yet, if it's not going 'their way' then we aren't listening...sigh...


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sat, 12-19-2009 - 11:33am
No doubt!