Tea Party still searching for political identity

Limited government fires the tea party kettle, but a collective identity crisis could swallow the movement's steam.

"I'm not even sure you or I could come up with a satisfactory definition of the Tea Party," said Dr. John Geer, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University. "And if you ask individual members, they come up with all kinds of definitions."

But Nick Ware disagrees. A tea party supporter from Catoosa County, Ga., Mr. Ware said he and his friends joined because they were concerned with "the spending going on in our country." He became a tea party supporter in 2008, opposing "all the government bailouts" approved by President George W. Bush.

"If you want to believe a religion, believe in gay rights, believe in abortion, you have that freedom," said Mr. Ware, who labeled himself a political independent. "But there is serious unity about up-in-your-face tax raising and paying back the deficit. It affects us all."

Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Brown thinks the movement has a seamier underbelly.

"There's probably more to it," Mr. Brown said. "There's a kind of exclusivity about trying to own the moniker of 'fiscal responsibility.' I don't think that's good."

He wasn't willing to echo statements from several Democratic politicians, including Tennessee's Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., that tea party rallies are racist, but Dr. Geer acknowledged reports that indicated such conduct.

"Because it's decentralized, you're going to have some people behaving in a way that make (the tea party) look fringe," he said.

Dr. Geer added that the tea party's visibility may be short-lived. He sees the movement "kicked off the front page" if President Barack Obama nominates a liberal judge to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Social issues such as gay rights and abortion probably will dominate the news if a liberal judge is nominated, he said, while most tea party members are more focused on small government and financial issues.

"A lot of these folks are really Libertarians," he said. "They don't want to talk about gay rights or abortion. So Obama's choice could throw a monkey wrench into some of the tea party message."

Dr. Geer also sees the tea party getting swallowed up by Republicans in November's midterm elections. He said Democrats "would love" to see congressional candidates under the tea party name, predicting that tea party candidates would split votes with Republicans, leading to Democratic victories in some races.

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