Modern News

This first became apparent in the wildly controversial race for New York’s 23rd Congressional District. In that particular race, a national movement backed third party candidate Doug Hoffman against liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava and Democrat Owens.

The liberty movement enjoyed a huge success by pushing Scozzafava to the point of dropping out of the race, but ultimately lost the election to the Democrat opponent.

Another race to monitor tea party involvement in is the race for Colorado Governor. Specifically, the Republican primary. This evening I received a handful of emails that suggest a major battle is about to break out within the Colorado liberty movement.

And the target is the GOP establishment.

The first flag to set off the emotions across Colorado was a Wall Street Journal piece that essentially asserts the idea that the GOP establishment is carefully trying to appease the movement, while quietly banking on its eventual vote against the Democrats.

Republicans nationally are walking the same delicate tightrope. Some GOP leaders have proposed a 10-point checklist of conservative values that the national party would use in evaluating potential candidates for Congress. That would help ensure that the candidates were ideologically acceptable to the tea-party movement. On the other hand, given today’s anti-establishment mood, a stamp of approval from the party elite may not help.

To the consternation of Republican leaders, tea-party activists are jumping into primaries for U.S. Senate and other races, promoting their own candidates to challenge Republican front-runners in Kentucky, Florida, Illinois, California and elsewhere.

“At the end of the day, the tea partiers don’t have anywhere else to go,” said Eric Sondermann, an independent political consultant in Denver. “If they show up at the polls next year, it won’t be to pull the Democratic lever.”

This last quote ignited a firestorm of anger within the Colorado tea party movement. Jennifer Lorrenson, a Colorado Tea Party Organizer, had this to say to the Chair of the Colorado GOP.

How utterly condescending and elitist of him to make that statement. “If they show up at the polls?” I would wager that most Tea Party members are faithful and well informed voters. It may be in Mr. Sondermann’s best interest to get out and meet the Tea Party leaders across this great state before he opens his mouth with ignorant, contemptible statements such as these.

Many are not happy with their support being assumed by the establishment. And a mishap by the Neil Cavuto show today threw Scott McInnis, Republican candidate for Colorado governor, right smack in the middle of the controversy.

If you watch the interview on Fox News, you’ll notice that McInnis is heralded as the “tea party candidate” for Colorado Governor. Cavuto went out of his way to make the suggestion several times, and the title above Scott Mcinnis’ name read “Tea Party Candidate.”

The problem with that is the Tea Party Organizations of Colorado strongly oppose McInnis. In fact, three major tea party groups, Evergreen/Conifer Tea Party, Southern Colorado Tea Party and the Tea Party of Northern Colorado, are actually endorsing Dan Maes, one of McInnis’ primary opponents.

I have confirmation from all three groups, including several 9/12 related groups, that the movement of Colorado strongly opposes McInnis and his run for Governor.

I contacted the McInnis campaign and was told that he had nothing to do with the inaccurate title. Josh Green, a press contact for the campaign, told me that Fox News assumed the title based on the Wall Street Journal piece, and the campaign was not aware of it until the show began.

Speaking about McInnis and the “Tea Party Candidate” title on Fox News, Josh said “he never insinuated such a thing.” Josh also confirmed that it was not, nor has it ever been an official campaign statement.

I asked if McInnis supported the tea party movement and was told he strongly supports the ideas behind the movement and applauds the effort.

Several Colorado Tea Party organizers who wish to remain unnamed told me that McInnis has refused to go through a new vetting process known as iCaucus, a vetting process to help tea party activists identify conservative credentials of a candidate. It was also mentioned that McInnis has refused to appear at several tea party events.

McInnis appears to be someone strong on fiscal issues. His campaign says he strongly supports TABOR and will work to veto any attempts to weaken it. He also appears poised to take a very strong stance against union power across the state, vowing to break down its stranglehold on state agencies and labor.

I found it strange, however, when it was admitted that McInnis refuses to sign the ATR “no new taxes pledge.” The campaign claimed it was a libertarian stance to not have to sign pledges, but many will argue there should be no reason not to sign a pledge to oppose any and all new taxes, if indeed you truly are libertarian minded.

Either way, there is no question that the liberty movement is on everyone’s minds. Media, political parties and candidates… everyone is consider the movement as a part of their strategy.

And for good reason. But I have to question the logic of the assumed support. If memory serves well, John McCain and the GOP establishment assumed the same and lost badly. As did the GOP in the NY23 special election.

I don’t think it’s wise to assume support. And I don’t think the GOP can afford to be proven wrong.