Is the Indiana Tea Party Over?
They rallied, they yelled, the screamed and at the end of the day it didn’t make much of a difference. I’m talking about the electoral victory of former, and would like to be next, U.S. Senator Dan Coats. According to the Associated Press results Coats beat a crowded primary field with slightly less than 40% of Republican primary voters.
Actually, it was a pretty good night for incumbents. Dan Burton barely beat back several challengers and eeked out a win in the 5th District. Todd Rokita worked hard and coasted to safe plurality in the 4th. In the 3rd District Mark Souder beat a well financed challenger. And Jackie Warlorksi, incumbent State Representative, won by her primary by the biggest majority of any other Congressional candidate.
Even at the local level, with the exception of Marvin Scott (by the way, I think we can all that one for Andre Carson now and never speak of it again), the establishment pretty much won in most races. There is something to be said for organization and name ID. That’s something the tea party movement has yet to grasp. It’s not enough to protest, hold meetings and scream. You need to learn how to form coalitions, engage in real grass roots get out the vote organizing, and God forbid, come out as a group and pick a candidate.
I know it may suck and it you may not like it, but real life is like that some times, deal with it. You’ll sleep better.
I’ll have something to say about local races in the next post.
