Opinion: Democrats had better fear Tea Party candidates

[The Minx]

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Democratic political operatives are excited and filled with enthusiasm over the prospects of running against several Tea Party candidates in November, suggesting the Republican nominees are so extreme and out-of-touch that there is no way they stand a chance of winning in November.

Have you listened to the euphoria in Democratic circles since Christine O'Donnell's victory this week over the legendary Mike Castle, a congressman, former governor and the man considered absolutely unbeatable? The GOP establishment had already started measuring the drapes in his U.S. Senate office and was salivating at the chance to see Vice President Joe Biden administer the oath of office to the man who would occupy his Senate seat.

But Castle is busying himself this week packing up his campaign office after O'Donnell dusted him in the Republican primary.

The same has taken place in other races. In the New York Republican gubernatorial race, Rick Lazio was also considered a shoo-in to face New York Attorney General Mario Cuomo in November, yet a Tea Partier with a racist streak in his body, Carl Paladino, beat the former congressman. Badly.

These victories, and others, have left the GOP establishment reeling, unable to figure out how the devil they danced with has now consumed the party. What was supposed to be party unity to target the Democrats is now a party civil war, complete with infighting, backbiting and finger-pointing.

The political punditry has sounded the bell and declared that for Democrats, their potential loss of the U.S. Senate is now a false alarm, and O'Donnell's primary victory has assured the GOP they can't take it over.

Such talk is hilarious to Dick Armey, the former Republican House leader who is the founder of Freedom Works, a conservative activist group aligned with Tea Partiers.

I caught up with Armey in the airport Wednesday, and he had a Cheshire grin on his face as he talked about O'Donnell's victory.

Armey, who didn't endorse anyone in the race, wondered how GOPers could be so angry, saying it was an open primary, O'Donnell had the right to run and only spent a fraction of what Castle did to win the primary.

He said that in the end, it doesn't matter what polls say, pundits try to intimate or how much money you have. All that counts is if you have more votes than the other person.

And he's dead right.

That's why Democrats shouldn't see Tea Party candidates such as O'Donnell, Rand Paul in Kentucky and Sharron Angle in Nevada as a firewall to keep them in power. What they should be doing is having a laser-like focus on their core supporters and driving them to the polls.

iReport: Watch one teen's view of the Tea Party

If they want to cast the Tea Partiers as out of the mainstream, go right ahead. I don't think that will work for a second. What will matter is that voters are, in the words of the late comedian Robin Harris, are "pissed off to the highest level of pissivity."

This election will boil down to a rage that cannot be estimated about the economy. It was in shambles when President Obama took over, and is still dragging along like a ball and chain on our collective feet.

If Democrats aren't focused, they'll look up and have to contend with Sen. O'Donnell, Sen. Rand and Sen. Angle. Falling asleep at the wheel in this rancorous and unpredictable election will result in nothing but disaster.

Dems, you didn't pay attention to Scott Brown and look how that worked out for you in Massachusetts.

You might not want to be as carefree about these races, lest you want to be like Castle and scratch your heads on November 3 and ask, "What in the hell just happened?"

So, what do you think? Are the Democrats taking their prospects for success too much for granted in areas where the Tea Party members managed to beat GOP incumbents in the primaries?

[Hotfoot]

Conventional Wisdom (tm) says that the breakoff party is likely to do the most damage to the party they originated from. Since most of the voters who vote Tea Party stem from the Republican Party, it stands to reason that the Democrats actually stand to gain tremendously from the schism.

For the Tea Party to legitimately take over Democratic areas, they'd have to have pulled from both Democratic AND Republican voting pools with enough strength to beat both sides, and in the vast majority of the United States, I really doubt that's the case. I suspect we'll see a handful of Tea Party candidates make it to the House, most likely none to the Senate, and watch as the entire party makes the entire thing look like some massive uprising that now legitimizes the movements.

[Soontir948]

With the talk about certain victory because of the schism, I hope Democrats will take into account that it may turn voters complacent and stay home. They're going to have to urge people to still go and vote.

New York for instance just unveiled new electronic voting machines and problems had occurred in the primary with some poll sites opening late, have broken machines, and ill-trained poll workers. Bloomberg had pretty much said it was a disaster and Schumer had to wait at his poll site that didn't open on time. At my precinct, they were suppose to be opened by 0600 but I went in around 0900 and poll workers were still arguing on how to do things right. They may clean up their act by November but I am certainly still worried about a clusterfuck that day. If Democrats think they will win, some may stay home thinking there will be hardier Dem voters who'll get the job done.

[frigidmagi]

Democrats do have to worry about getting their voters out there, that's true, on the flip side... When it comes to Christine... She's a dead duck. This is a women that went on MTV and nattered about outlawing masturbation. To be blunt she's running in a liberal area on top of things.

In several places the tea party is also running separate candidates. To be honest I think the worse bleeding will be among moderate Republicans , radicalising the party even further. Which frankly might be a necessary thing to bleed out the crazy. Ironically another target group who might get hit? The Blue Dogs.

[SirNitram]

The bigger threat is to the GOP, in the form of the lingering hard feelings and similar. The entire thing is usually very calm: After the primary, the candidates pretend to like each other and support the winner for the seat. It hasn't been happening. Since Feburary, the Tea Party Convention has been shuffled around, changed dates, all trying to move into position to get enough butts in the seats. It was supposed to happen in June/July, but a whole bunch of excuses about the heat cropped up(Not that this stopped the Left-Leaning(For there truly is a dearth of true Left in this country) Netroots Nation, or the right-wing RightOnline conventions in Vegas). It was shoved back to October. A little digging by those who watches this sort of thing uncovered three things: The Tea Party Convention website has poofed, and now exists only as a cached copy. Tea Party Nation, it's sponsor, has poofed it's official connections to it. And the Mirage, where the Con was scheduled, has had the room block released. Worse, both hotels that were going to host it(ONe for the original date, and one from the re-scheduled one) stated they had no contract for either. No records.

This follows on the trail of the Tea Party Exchange folding up and vanishing from lack of customers(Short explanation: The shops pay for a sign advertising they are part of it, TPers get a discount, money goes to their candidates), and in fact, decreasing customers in the shops who bought in.

This is on top of the appearances of the defeated mainstream GOPers making attempts to get back into the races. This is no longer the Conventional Wisdom(tm) that the Dems will lose because party in power during economic slump, or after a President. Nor is it the CW of a party splitting being the one to lose the most. This has gotten Odd. And the outcome is.. Well, we'll have to see, won't we?