Many in the blogosphere (including your truly) have labeled Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson as the “Tea Party candidate,” given Johnson’s appearance at a Madison Tea Party rally earlier this year, as well as claims Johnson helped found the Oshkosh tea party group, but folks from the various Tea Party groups in Wisconsin made a point to announce they didn’t have a preferred Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. As Cody Oliphant of One Wisconsin Now points out, Ron Johnson really isn’t the “Tea Party candidate;” he’s just the preferred candidate of Mark Block.
In case you didn’t know, Mark Block is the ex-convict leader of the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity, and he’s a mover and shaker in conservative political circles, with deep ties to the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Block also has ties to former Governor Tommy Thompson, who was was widely rumored to have strongly considered a run against Sen. Russ Feingold before begging off, and from what I’ve been told by folks I trust, it was Block – and not the leaders of the various Tea Party groups in Wisconsin – who invited Ron Johnson to appear at the Madison Tea Party rally in April. No doubt thanks to Block’s machinations, Johnson went on to secure the Republican Party’s endorsement of his candidacy at the recent Republican Party of Wisconsin convention, despite the fact that Johnson had only been a candidate for a little over a week and had not said much about where he stood on any issues of importance.
There’s no word yet on whether the various Tea Party groups in Wisconsin will actually be able to agree on a preferred Republican U.S. Senate candidate, but if I had to venture a guess, I’d bet that Mark Block’s preferred candidate won’t be the preferred candidate of those groups.
I think you said that earlier.
I’m just hammering home the point, Jason.
Interesting story there Jason. It sure begs watching.
How can that be? I thought the Tea Party groups were a monolithic group taking their orders in lock step with corporate organizers?
Apparently that’s not the case in Wisconsin, as I’m learning.
Zach! Guess again. Many in the TEA party like Ron Johnson. The handful that spoke out of turn recently, simply do not speak for everyone. As much as I respect your blog (although we won’t agree on much) you have got a great deal of misinformation here bud…
The handful that spoke out of turn? The folks who “spoke out of turn,” as you call it, are the folks who’ve been organizing Wisconsin’s tea party groups since the whole tea party thing got started.
TEA party is not much different in WI than it is anywhere else. Grassroots people! Please stop listening to the biased press and dreaming that this movement is something other than it is. I suppose it is shocking to imagine that this many citizens are off their butt and active. They are! Never been anything quite like it in the history of the US. Most of these people have never been involved in their lives and take marching orders from nobody.
Zach – It was a couple of them and since you don’t know how involved I may be, all I ask is that you please try to keep an open mind. Those two do NOT speak for all of us and if you knew how disgusted MANY of us are with their remarks, you would have a better understanding. Besides the fact that there are thousands of people who consider themselves TEA partiers in this state and 2-5 UNOFFICIAL leaders do not speak for them either. Please remember that the TEA party is made up of many local groups and any coalition is VERY loose. Our common goal is to remove all liberals from office in Nov. We are for lower taxes (not NO taxes as some joke)which in turn creates smaller government. The growth should be in the private sector, not the profitless government.
You make some good points, but then you also try and speak for everyone in what you believe is a common goal. I don’t think that’s correct at all that a common goal is to remove all liberals. At least initially there were a number of moderate to left leaning people participating as well, who seemed to be motivated by the protesting the bailouts more than any other issue. I’ve heard a lot of Tea Party people who are more of a libertarian or even Republican bent who are every bit as angry with Republican politicians and in favor of their removal for voting for the bailouts and/or excessive spending.
Actually a bit of clarification from someone in the “TEA Party” and the Coalition. Huh? and Locke make some good points. Zach, you seem to being throwing all the power to Mark Block. Don’t, we are not a bunch George Soros “,mini-rabble rousers, for hire”. Most of us are just people looking for a place to vent and try to recapture a Govt out of control, and yes many Libertarians are included within that mix.
A few points: The “Coalition”, is over 70 groups, loosely organized around a goal of controlling spending and Govt. as Huh? said. (The ten’s of thousands of people are widely ranged, and may have many of their own reason’s). The press release that was put out last week had only 19 of the 70 “groups” represented. Had it been democratically handled it wouldn’t have been released at all. It comes down to a few Westlake fans trying to undercut Johnson’s endorsement. They tried to pretend it was about something else but it wasn’t, no matter how much they try to spin it. I do not blame Dave Westlake, who I like. But his back bench supporters attempting to use the “Coaliton” for counterproductive purposes.
Secondly: As a member of that “Coalition”; I, and others expressed that the Wisconsin “TEA Party” is about a general philosophy, and not about endorsing ANY candidates. I feel very comfortable that both Westlake and Johnson are more in touch with the overwhelming majority of “TEA Partiers” than Russ Feingold is. The main difference being that Westlake has been unable to get any traction or donations. It’s unlike Crist and Rubio in Florida where one is conservative the other is a squishy moderate who has abandoned his party and presumed principals, for glory. He will probably still lose.
So it comes down to who the candidates actually are. Barret Vs. Walker and Johnson Vs. Feingold. I think we all know where the TEA Partier’s are going, and they are energized. The Big Govt. folks are worried, and they should be.
The interesting thing is that Barrett’s most recent ad (which I liked & thought was quite well done) couldn’t have been more targeted towards Tea Party type votes. We can certainly debate whether he really has the track record he implies or to really do what he’s talking about, but it’s a message the vast majority of people who align themselves with the movement will like.
Especially early in the campaign, where most of the “up state” voters really don’t know much about him, defining himself as someone who’ll “put state government on a diet” before his opponents have a chance to define him is really outstanding strategy. Add to that, he’s a decent guy, with Neumann sniping and a potentially ugly primary and the Republicans are looking like they’re in trouble already.
I can assure you I know no one in the TEA party that would vote for Barrett. The TEA party is a conservative movement. Yes, there are many Independents and even a few Dems, but the values held by these people are conservative. Fiscal and social. We will not be voting for liberals, period. Tom B seems like a nice enough guy, but it ends there…
Actually “Huh?” I think Locke has made a great point. The Fact that our “movement” has dragged both the Dem’s and Republicans in “our” direction. Example: The guy who ran and won the Murtha Seat in PA was a Pro-life, Pro 2nd Amendment, Gonna cut spending Democrat. In 2006 the US Senate candidate (Casey), used the same technique, to beat Santorum.
You will see the Lefties run to the Center, and the Righty’s run further “right”. Because that’s where the energy is. This is one of my goal’s as a TEA Partier, and many people agree with me. But I don’t presume to speak for everyone, yet I bet I’m pretty solid on this general principal.
As for Locke’s other point that the Republican Primary is gonna be messy.. It won’t be. In three weeks some new polls and contributions will show Neumann is making no serious headway. The only thing he can hope for is Dem’s to crossover and disrupt the Repub Primary. There simply isn’t enough people willing to do that sort of mischief. Westlake should see the same writing on the wall by that time as well.
In citing the victory by Mark Critz in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional district, DB neglected to point out that Murtha himself was a pro-life, pro-gun Democrat, so it’s not as if the seat was occupied by a far-left liberal prior to Critz running for and winning the seat.
I’m not convinced such results will change Neumann’s approach. I just don’t know. If Sykes is to be believed, his open records request of Walker, requesting the records of all the other open records requests they’ve had showed that Neumann’s campaign was doing about as much fishing as One Wisconsin Now, the DPW and similar. And honestly, I’ve not been impressed at all with the Walker campaign. Obscure reference, but what it’s reminding me of…I watched a MMA fight with Hershel Walker and ??? some other guy. It was awful. Despite his age, Walker is still in stunning shape and manhandled his opponent. But completely lacked the experience to put together a flourish, knockout or submission to finish the match. Like in the world of boxing, nothing is worse than a mismatch between a aging veteran with too much heart & not enough skill/talent and a young guy with all the talent in the world but not the experience. It’s brutal and you just hope a trainer has the courage to throw in the towel or an ugly, senseless beating is going to take place.
As far as there not being enough people willing to do that sort of mischief, I’ll agree, that’s going to be the case for this race. But it’s only a matter of time before a race is close enough that it’s outcome will be swung by such people crossing over – if it hasn’t already.