Tea Party To Take On Moderate GOP Candidates

By aaroncynic in News on Nov 3, 2009 10:00PM

The results of New York’s special election in the 23rd district congressional race might have effects nation-wide, even here in Illinois. The Tea Party movement successfully derailed the campaign of Dede Scozzafava, a moderate GOP candidate in the race in favor of Doug Hoffman, a much more conservative republican. Politico reports that their success could embolden their efforts to push out more moderate GOP candidates in favor of hard right conservatives.

A recent poll found that top Senate hopefuls Alexi Giannoulias (D) and Mark Kirk (R) are running neck and neck, with 41% support each in a phone survey. One might believe this would garner more support for Mark Kirk (pictured right) in the upcoming race from the GOP’s base, but the Illinois Tea Party movement would rather burn the village to save it. Said one organizer in a Politico interview, “We’re going to work hard as hell to make sure Mark Kirk doesn’t win. Mark Kirk is about as liberal as Arlen Specter was.”

While not yet the majority of the GOP, Tea Partiers certainly are the most vocal and outspoken. If their words begin to carry weight with more mainstream republicans, the entire party could shift even further right. Just how far might be debatable, but when some conservative talking heads who called Bush and Cheney "too liberal" are now in the forefront of the movement, you can bet even Reagan’s ghost might say “loosen up.”