Tea-party troika rivals GOP leadership in Senate

It’s the Tea Party whip operation. It’s called the “inside-outside game,” because a few folks on the inside — senators and groups like FreedomWorks, Club for Growth, Heritage Action and the National Rifle Association — are able to rile up a bunch of folks on the outside. Those outside players are noisy constituents, local party operatives, talk radio hosts, and donors, so they have more sway over individual senators than the party leadership.

Sometimes the mechanism for reaching the grass roots is simply the megaphone of being a U.S. senator. Paul’s 13-hour filibuster against drone strikes on U.S. citizens was a prime example.

But outside groups are a key tool. The NRA rallied its membership to hold the line that Cruz and crew drew during the gun debate. When the Club for Growth or Heritage Action announce they are scoring a particular vote, members know that voting wrong will trigger donor and grassroots anger.

And these outside groups can reach into every state and congressional district. FreedomWorks has become something of a hub for Tea Party organizations. Heritage Action holds a weekly conference call with a top tier of activists it calls “sentinels.” Heritage Action arms the sentinels with inside-the-Beltway intelligence, and the sentinels keep an eye on when lawmakers have town hall events.