Democrats Hoping For A Tea Party Boost Should Maybe Rethink Things

Democrats who have pinned their electoral hopes in 2010 to self-identified "Tea Party" insurgents siphoning off votes from establishment GOP candidates may want to develop a new strategy. Back in March, a Quinnipiac poll suggested that Tea Party candidates "could hurt the GOP in Congressional races," but as Dave Weigel reports today, at ground level, "Tea Party activists aren't acting the part."

As Weigel notes, the Nevada Senate race between incumbent Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and GOP nominee Sharron Angle, who has Tea Party backing, offers a fine example of local tea party activists rallying behind the GOP choice over a would-be third party insurgent:

This year, Reid consistently trails in polls against Sharron Angle, an ultraconservative former state legislator who rode Tea Party endorsements to a Republican primary win. Democrats want to believe that Scott Ashjian, a shady and unknown businessman who got onto the ballot as the "Tea Party" candidate, will scoop up thousands of votes and let Reid squeak by.

Not likely. Local Tea Party activists got the jump on Ashjian, using a listserv to coordinate attacks on him, spread facts about his business and legal problems, and get as many people as possible on the record denouncing him. In short order he plunged from 18 percent to 5 percent in statewide polls. "We neutralized him pretty quickly," says Eric Odom, a Tea Party activist who relocated to Nevada, in part, to help clobber Reid. "We bought the Web address he was advertising on his Web site and pointed to StopAshjian.com--that only cost, like, $100. We traded talking points. We kind of shoved him into the spotlight, and it destroyed him, because he wasn't ready for it."

This behavior makes perfect sense once you understand that members of the "Tea Party" are essentially, Republicans.

Weigel has much more, so go ahead and check it out.

(Here's an interesting side-note though! As you'll see when you click through, Weigel's story is running on Slate.com. Which means that two weeks after the Washington Post accepted Weigel's resignation, they are compensating him anew for his reporting. Indie rock fans will understand why this affords me the opportunity to post this clip of Wilco performing "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.")

RELATED:
Bouncers for the Tea Party [Slate]

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Comments

[thepheonix]

09:31 AM on 07/13/2010

Polls show that Reid is losing ground

[oldwhitewomantoo]

08:18 AM on 07/13/2010

Please take this to heart and consider making donations to candidates outside of your district in tough races so we can stop the Republicans from taking back the House.

Eric Cantor is up for re-election in November.

Please support Rick Waugh for Congress and help us replace Eric Cantor in our district this year.

Please make a donation at Rick's website ... www.rickwaugh.com

I have!

[VoteSizemore]

01:25 AM on 07/19/2010

I hate the idea of contributing to people outside your district, and this is coming from a House candidate. If you don't live in my district, I can't do anything to help you, that would be unethical. You may be supporting a congressman that will screw you over in favor of their own state. Better to focus on your own race. That's my two cents, at least.

[gschear]

11:09 AM on 07/12/2010

Good advice Jason.
While we are at it, looking down the road at '12, can we please stop this horse5hit nonsense of voting republican in open primaries to insure Palins nomination if she runs? A big primary win will do nothing but convince the herd that she is the second coming of Saint Ronald.

[Katzencats]

11:43 PM on 07/11/2010

I don't think it's so much a 3rd party siphoning the Dems are counting on, as the TP backed candidates being so nuts that rational people will vote for the Dems out of desperation (rather than not vote at all & risk loony tunes representation).

Keep in mind the Nixon, Goldwater, Eisenhower, & Buckley families ALL endorsed the Obama/Biden ticket in 2008, for just that reason - they felt McCain had shown poor judgement in selecting Palin as his running mate & thought Palin unqualified for anything. It wasn't that they were fans of the Dem ticket.

As for the anti-incumbant fever this year? Didn't pretty much all the incumbants win their primaries this year? (not all, but most).

[mamacat]

06:52 AM on 07/12/2010

Well said, thank you.

[VoteSizemore]

01:26 AM on 07/19/2010

Lovely, just what we need, more of the same. *sigh*

[Hardyman1966]

06:49 PM on 07/11/2010

Although I don't think there's a Democrat out there capable of a landslide this year, let's stop giving so much attention to unqualified noise-makers who possess little or no substance and even less in the way of positive solutions.

The press was sure that California could get stuck with "The Birther Queen", Orly Taitz, for Secretary of State. Yes, she pulled in 300,000+ votes from people who chose to waste their vote, but in the end, she was relegated to the roadside curiosity that she really is, as well as not being someone worth taking seriously.

I have to believe that Sharron Angle will not be allowed to go any further, and certainly to not have anything to do with Las Vegas. The Strip does not need to be converted to a Reading Room.

[Bankerrkt]

05:59 PM on 07/11/2010

Too funny. Reid has insulted and talked negatively about the Tea Party movement since their inception. Only a few months out from the election and the Tea Party's candidate is about to hand him his rear end. What a position for the Senate majority leader to be in. Pure karma.

[Greg Petty]

06:56 PM on 07/11/2010

Angle is not gonna make the cut, She will not shut up and her views are ridiculous,this a non story ,She is done

[Low Prices are Good]

05:48 PM on 07/11/2010

good news

[LBCityGirl]

10:48 AM on 07/11/2010

Newsflash: No one has ever thought the TeaBaggers weren't part of the republicans Party. It is in fact, the Teabaggers' ridiculous extreme views that will be the GOP's undoing with moderate voters--from both parties-- at the polls. It is the GOP itself who keeps trying to distance themselves form these wackos. and why is that? because they know it WILL hurt them at them polls in November. These polls don't mean jack because it is too easy to take 1000 voters from one part of the state and say this represents the entire constituency It is obvious to everyone who is paying attention that these polls are complete BS.

[Hagenj]

09:24 PM on 07/10/2010

Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

Mark Twain

[Djief]

10:34 AM on 07/10/2010

Democrats and Republicans seem to think that their brand identity will carry them through the mid-terms. That's fundamentally lazy.

We want our politicians to have an agenda besides I'm-not-the-other-guy.

[dancingstu]

02:32 PM on 07/10/2010

Apparently, the agenda for Nevada Republicans includes forcing rape and incest victims to carry prenancies to term, providing suanas and massages to prisoners as part of a scientology-inspired rehab program, and making alcohol illegal (hooray for abolition!).

Charles Manson should win if he were running against Angle.

[Greg Petty]

06:57 PM on 07/11/2010

Why ,theold guys almost sank a world economy ,pretty good advertising

[LV711]

05:53 AM on 07/10/2010

Somebody has jokes! How can I say this. Oh yes. I live in Las Vegas and, trust me, there is absoulutely no way Angle is going to even come close to Harry Reid. Oh sure, political reporters need to keep the public interested, so they become tabloid. Sharron Angle has a whisper of a chance of winning nothing here. She wants to abolish alcohol here in Sin City. This is a gambling town. You put drinking and gambling together and you have the Strip!

I suggest reporters stop with the polls and start using common sense. Tea party people are not real. They are simply expressing outloud what Republican leaders in Washington cannot. They aren't angry due to government spending, they don't even know what it is. The Republicans have them carrying their water, because the GOP has done nothing but obstruct, obstruct and obstruct so more. And how do they reward their little teabagging people? By voting "no" for the unemployment benefits extension while they vacationed! How much more vile can one party get?

[24hourrifle]

08:04 AM on 07/10/2010

LV711.......please quit wasting your time w/ all those facts,information,common sense etc......

the msm.....umm,excuse me,i mean,the "liberal media" has been thoroughly bea ting us over our heads w/ the narrative about how Harry Reid has no chance to win.....it really doesnt matter who the R's run against him,because incumbents can't win anything ever.......so they all just may as well give up......

anyway,i dont know what progressives would do w/out our good pals in the "liberal media".....

[Hardyman1966]

06:55 PM on 07/11/2010

"Tea party people are not real. They are simply expressing outloud what Republican leaders in Washington cannot."
______________________________________________________________

Thank you, I've been dying to hear from someone in Vegas and you nailed it. The Tea Party IS the Tourette Syndrome of the GOP.*

*No offense to anyone with Tourette Syndrome is meant to be inferred or implied by this statement, it is for illustrative purposes only. I consider that segment of the population a step UP from said mentioned Parties.

[libster4]

07:44 PM on 07/11/2010

Love your disclaimer, are you a lawyer? I'm fanning you.

[LeLoup]

01:13 AM on 07/10/2010

Come on Jason,

All the democrats have to do is take the abundant material Sharon Angle is giving them for free, and use it against her.

You really think Nevada voters will seriously vote for her in November?

If so, then we'll know the end is near.

[xlntcat]

03:08 AM on 07/10/2010

Contrary to the implication Rassmussen is the only poll that shows Angle in the lead and Mason Dixon has Reid ahead by three. The average of polling put both candidates within the margin of error and Angle has a lot of time to hang herself. PPP has Conway tied with Paul in KY and within the margin of error even adding in Rassmussen. Crist is ahead of the teabagger Rubio running as a Independent. So at least in 3 races the negatives associated with the Tea Party are currently changing the dynamics of the race. Rand Paul's negative approval greatly exceeds his positives in KY>

[LeLoup]

12:42 AM on 07/11/2010

Thanks for the info.
# 480!

[BoiseLib]

11:27 AM on 07/11/2010

Thank You!

I was looking for someone to say this.

Have a Fan.

[therealone]

04:02 AM on 07/10/2010

Nevada voters? Yeah, they're wack in the desert.

[Cthulhu On Call]

11:48 PM on 07/09/2010

Aren't all these Tea Baggers running as Rescumlicans anyway? Who would they be siphoning votes away from?

[dancingstu]

02:34 PM on 07/10/2010

From the small block of people who vote for Elvis as a write-in candidate.

[Countess]

10:24 PM on 07/09/2010

The DLC types in control of the democratic party are not too bright and they thought Obama's win was something more than people being disgusted with 8 years of Bush but that is all it was and now they have been pandering to the right wingers hoping to get votes but people don't want cheap imitations and in a two party system the opposition eventually wins no matter who they are simply because there is no other choice. They have turned off the most dynamic part of their base by governing from the right so when they need them in November they won't be there. Great job!

[Paul Russell]

04:37 PM on 07/09/2010

Democrats should continue mocking the Tea Party for the racist, ignorant idiots that they come off as during meetings and interviews

The Tea Party will win some elections but will NEVER be anything significant and is simply taking away from numerous Republican candidates to start with.

Democrats completely ignoring them will make them seem even more important since they will win several races....but Democrats mocking them for their overall insignificance and stupidity are going to ensure that they stay where they are which is a small, fringe group

Hypocrites came out during Obama's tenure when they kept quite during Bush's time.....and can not come up with a single answer as to why

[libster4]

07:46 PM on 07/11/2010

Fan #5