Hunt: Tea Party Defines U.S. Elections Agenda

With the U.S. midterm elections five weeks away, the tea party already is the big winner of 2010.

This anti-government, grassroots Republican offshoot has rattled the party establishment -- making former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin its most prominent 2012 presidential contender --and dominated the debate this campaign season.

The tea partyers believe they’re on the cutting edge of a revolution: the “future of politics,” as Palin says. More likely, they’re a short-term catalyst for Republicans and a long-term problem.

Nevertheless, their victories are impressive -- toppling the Republican Party’s choices in Senate races from Alaska to Delaware, with Nevada, Colorado and Kentucky in between. Scores of House candidates around America have embraced the tea party agenda.

The effect on non-tea party Republicans is palpable. The party’s 2008 presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has shifted right on issues from immigration to tax cuts after being challenged by a tea party-type candidate. The former maverick is going to the Tucson tea party’s rally Oct. 9.

Presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, always a good weathervane, is assiduously courting the group. Immediately after tea party candidates Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine O’Donnell in Delaware won upset primary victories, Romney embraced them with campaign contributions.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a non-movement right conservative, has embraced the tea party’s general anti- immigration posture; he actually endorsed changing the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution to bar citizenship for children born in America to undocumented immigrants.

Karl Rove, once an arbiter of conservative sentiment, in a moment of serious analysis on Fox News, criticized O’Donnell the night she won the primary, saying her extremism made her unelectable. Tea party Republicans assailed Rove, who quickly backtracked and then bragged about funneling money to O’Donnell’s campaign. There are shades of the French Revolution here.

The tea party agenda isn’t well defined, though it is anti- government, anti-spending, anti-immigration and anti-compromise politics. In an America beset by a 9.6 percent unemployment rate and plenty of anxiety and anger, there is a receptive audience.Here is more