“That absolutely creates, for leadership in the Tea Party movement, strategic problems,’’ said Joe Miller, a former US Senate candidate from Alaska who now leads a group, Western Representation PAC, whose stated goal is defeating Romney. “We’re not seeing anything other than a fracturing right now of the vote.’’
This was supposed to be the Tea Party’s year to rock the Republican primary. After helping Republicans capture the majority in the US House in the 2010 mid-term elections,Tea Party activists were expected to play a pivotal role in helping to select the party’s presidential nominee.
And they have plenty of candidates to choose from: Bachmann started the congressional Tea Party Caucus. Cain has been speaking at Tea Party rallies since 2009. Ron Paul has been called the “grandfather of the Tea Party.’’ And Perry wrote “Fed Up!’’ an anti-Washington, Tea Party manifesto.
Yet Romney, a candidate many in the movement view as too timid and too moderate, has consistently stayed near the front of the pack, buoyed by a well-funded campaign, major endorsements, smooth debate performances, and a sense of inevitability surrounding his second run for the nomination.
Tea Party activists and religious conservatives, however, contend a crucial factor plays in their favor: Romney cannot seem to tally more than 20-25 percent support in national polls, meaning almost 80 percent of the vote is still in play. As the field inevitably narrows, they say, their potent forces will unite behind one alternative to the former Massachusetts governor.
“All the turmoil is in that other 80 percent, trying to coalesce around a candidate, and it’s not too late to do that,’’ said Matt Kibbe, chief executive of FreedomWorks, the Washington advocacy group that has helped build the Tea Party movement into a national force. “Not a single vote has been cast. I still think it’s going to pull together, perhaps around Cain.’’
