The Tea Party - Win or Lose in the McCain/Hayworth race?

[kentuck]

Sarah Palin endorsed John McCain.

However, there is no proof that the Tea Party followed Palin's advice.

In my opinion, when all the votes are analyzed, we will find that the Tea Party voted over-whelmingly for J.D. Hayworth. John McCain got almost all the other Republican votes.

What does that mean?

It means the Tea Party lost.

Under the surface, we can see a huge crack in the Republican coalition.

[Erose999]

1. Hayworthless did push Mayor McCheese farther right though. So in a way the 'baggers did win.

[Bravo Zulu]

2. mcnuts spent 21 million bucks on this campaign,

that probably bought a lot of votes!

[Winterblues]

3. However in Alaska the reverse was true

The Tea Bagger took down a very popular incumbent Senator. It is beginning to appear all this Amti Incumbent talk is mainly about Republican incumbents.. Democrats seem to be doing fine..

[BurtWorm]

4. Of course they lost!

Look at the way freepers reacted to McCain's win. There's a thread here somewhere. At least one said he'd support the Dem before he'd vote for McCain.

[SteelCityDem]

5. Great piece on this

nsider versus outsider: That's been the major theme of the 2010 campaign so far, and it was no different as voters in five key states, including Florida and Arizona, headed to the polls in nominating contests 10 weeks before the November midterms. But in the GOP contests that dominated the night, the influence of the tea party movement, which for the past year has fueled so much voter anger — and media coverage — showed some important signs of flagging, particular as nominees on the right ponder the best way to frame a campaign message to appeal to independent voters in the general election campaign.

In Florida, it came down to a battle of money versus power, as wealthy candidates tried to topple establishment favorites. In the governor's race, it worked, as former health care executive Rick Scott, who portrayed himself as an outsider, running outside the GOP establishment's power structure, narrowly defeated GOP favorite Bill McCollum, the state's attorney general. But money couldn't buy the nomination in Florida's Democratic Senate primary, where Rep. Kendrick Meek soundly defeated financier Jeff Greene, who spent $26 million on the race.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100825/el_yblog_upshot/big-primary-night-highlights-limits-of-tea-party-insurgency