Does the Tea Party have power?

    I have had a hard time as of late to pick a topic to write on. There are so many to choose from. I think that now I have officially narrowed it down andhave finally found something worth writing about. That is the Tea Party. As I consider the 2010 elections I am convinced that the Tea Party has very little power. I will take as my example the Nevada senate election where Harry Reid could have been ousted and the Alaska senate election where the Tea Party candidate lost to another Republican.

    Earlier in the year Republicans were poised to oust the sitting Senate President of the United States of America. Obviously they failed. The question that should be considered is why? It is because the candidate that the Republicans put up was a bit far to the right on the political spectrum. This candidate was in fact the Tea Party favorite, which a was a major reason that she got out of convention. She won over the more moderate candidates who in early were double digits ahead of Reid.To me this is a very clear indication that the people of the United States of America do not want the Tea Party. Their politics are too right wing and do not reflect American values of compromise and moderation. Rather their politics are unyielding and crazed in their approach. That said the Tea Party and their candidate lost what could have been a major victory and could have turned the tide in their favor. They didn't and the senate remains the same.

    The second person I would like to point out is the war in Alaska that was fought between the Tea Party candidate, as supported by former Governor Palin, and his Republican contender. After a recount it was found that the non-Tea Partier had won the election, as previous counts made clear. This single even shows that the Tea Party and their quasi-leaders don't have the kind of clout they proclaim to have. How can they if their candidates cannot beat a hated Senator or win within a state that a major Tea Partier was a Governor.

    Now the counter is that they did infact gain some seats for candidates that were "Tea Partiers" but if one were to take a closer look at this claim many of these candidates were viable candidates before aligning themselves with this new found populist movement. So it seems that the Tea Party had relatively little incluence in those regards as well. I think that the race with Rand Paul is the most telling instance for this point.

    With all that said I think that this is the time for a major shake up but not one that leads to a widening political gap between left and right. No now is the time for a central party to emerge and take control of the political arena.