Tea Party and the "Palin Factor"

Aaron Proctor, in the Philadelphia Examiner, has an interesting take on the Palin effect in yesterday's victory by Christine O'Donnell in Delaware's Senatorial primary over Mike Castle.

GOP Senate primary 2010 winner
Christine O'Donnell
photo courtesy CBS News

While I agree, Sarah and Christine better be careful about any attempts to become the face of the Tea Party movement, I don't think either are the leaders of the movement, but examples of the influence the Tea Party concept with voters.  You can't say the endorsement of any singular entity pushed O'Donnell over the top, and Chris Christie (a Tea Party favorite) was on the other side in this battle.  It was all about voter dissatisfaction with the GOP's moderate, mainstream republican wing.

Readers know I'm a fan of the former Alaskan governor, but as a local coordinator for a Tea Party group, I want to be clear about Sarah's role in our movement - it's entirely overstated. While I like most everything about her, she's barely among the top 5 candidates I want to win the primary in 2012.  I doubt she's actually aiming for the title, but I can understand the thought process of those who do.

There are several organizations who would also like to be the face - Tea Party Express and Tea Party Nation to name a few - aggressively advertising themselves and enthusiastically endorsing candidates.  But they fail to understand one basic fundamental truth about our movement; a role I hope neither Palin nor O'Donnell are pursuing.

While they, and the has-been media, may want her to be the face of the Tea Party. As a natural course in real grassroots Tea Party organizations, once you establish yourself as the face of the movement, you no longer can be.

It's not about you, it's about us.