‘We Have Put the Fear of God into the Republican Party’

posted at 8:37 pm on October 23, 2010 by The Other McCain
[ Elections ]   

That’s what a Tea Party activist said in a telephone call Saturday evening, as she was driving home from a day of campaigning in West Virginia. She wasn’t talking about religion, she was talking about how the Tea Party movement has gotten the attention — and earned the respect — of the GOP Establishment.

The activist described a Friday rally in Charleston, W.Va., where the three main speakers were Republican Senate candidate John Raese, FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Raese “was like, ‘I’m with you guys’” — meaning the Tea Party movement — the activist said, and even an establishment figure like McConnell was giving voice to the  populist themes of the grassroots conservative insurgency. “What we can fairly conclude, even before the votes are counted on November 2, is that America is not interested in becoming France,” McConnell said.

The success of the Tea Party has clearly made Republican leaders aware that their constituents are tired of status quo politics in Washington. McConnell’s Kentucky protege Trey Grayson was one of the first scalps claimed by the grassroots uprising, when he lost a May primary to Rand Paul. Despite establishment concerns and a barrage of attacks, Paul continues to lead his Democratic opponent Jack Conway with 10 days to go until Election Day. As veteran political analyst Michael Barone noted this week, Tea Party candidates have done far better than many pundits expected, demonstrating the political viability of the movement.

One Republican who seems to have gotten the grassroots message is Arizona Sen. John McCain. My sources with the campaign of Ruth McClung, the Tea Party-backed GOP candidate in Arizona’s 7th District, say that Senator McCain has been McClung’s staunchest supporter in her underdog campaign against Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva. As I reported two weeks ago at The American Spectator, “Arizona’s two Republican senators, John McCain and John Kyl, have reportedly started directing campaign donations and other resources toward the 7th District campaign. Within the next week, McClung’s candidacy is expected to gain $100,000 worth of Republican support, in addition to a steadily increasing stream of online small-donor contributions from grassroots conservatives eager to defeat Grijalva, who is co-chairman of the Progressive Caucus.” 

That combination of grassroots and establishment of support has helped the GOP challenger put Grijalva on the defensive, with new TV ads and offices all over the district. “The very fact that a district like Arizona’s 7th has become competitive is a testament to just how far the wave of anti-incumbent, anti-Democrat sentiment has spread,” as Joshua Miller of ABC News reported this week.

Similar trends are being reported all over the country, as in Massachusetts’ 4th District, where Sean Bielat has Barney Frank pinned down on the defensive, and Maryland’s 5th District, where Charles Lollar is giving Steny Hoyer the fight of his career.

Examiner columnist Peter Ingemi recently visited five congressional districts in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia where grassroots enthusiasm is helping fuel “the Big Red Wave” for Nov. 2. Analysis by Nate Silver of the New York Times indicates the Republicans will gain at least 50 House seats on Election Day. Winning a Senate majority is a much steeper hill to climb, but Silver’s analysis shows the GOP favored to add six or seven seats, upping their numbers to 47 or 48.

Of course, as Professor Glenn Reynolds keeps reminding us, “Don’t get cocky,” but if Republicans do win big on Nov. 2, party leaders will know that this could not have been accomplished without the many thousands of Tea Party activists who contributed to candidates, manned the phone banks, distributed yard signs and canvassed precincts.

Ten more days until Nov. 2, when the Democrats get the message: Not just no, but hell, no!

And starting Nov. 3, we’ll see if the Republicans have gotten the message, too.

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