The Ted Cruz Factor

     I think this description of the Tea Party is somewhat misleading:

    "The Tea Party has no leader, no hierarchy and no national fundraising network, yet the insurgent political movement born of frustration at government spendinghas bolstered its clout -- and its potential for aggravation --in the Republican Party with the nomination of U.S. Senate candidate and political newcomer Ted Cruz in Texas."

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-02/tea-party-momentum-steams-ahead-with-texas-senate-upset.html

    In fact this movement was largely the product of Dick Armey's group Freedom Works. Is the Tea Party grassroots? Depends on how you define grass roots. What's clear is that whether or not the phrase "no national fundraising network" is technically true or not, the Tea Party is very well financed by some very deep pockets.

    FreedomWorks, The Club for Growth, and of course, Alec. Looking at that fundraising lineup, in what way can it be claimed that there is no national fundraising network? Whatever you think about Ted Cruz's victory, it was not the victory of David over Goliath-at least not in financial terms:

    "For all of the David-versus-Goliath political talk, the big money in the race tilted toward Cruz. Outside groups spent $14.6 million on the Texas Republican Senate primary and runoff, more than on any other Senate race this year, according to opensecrets.org, which tracks campaign spending. Most of that went to support Cruz."

    "The Club for Growth political action committee spent $5.6 million on ads attacking Dewhurst. The Senate Conservatives Fund said on its website it had spent $2 million on Cruz’s behalf. Dewhurst got $5.6 million from the Texas Conservatives Fund, and loaned his campaign $19.2 million of his own fortune."

    What does the Ted Cruz Factor-the clear rise of Tea Party candidates in the GOP field- mean politically? It shows why all the moderate or establishment Republcians are retiring. The conservatives will spin this as the idea that the Tea Party is ascendant-the country is going red.

    That's not what's going on. What is actually going on is a kind of bifurcation of the parties. More and more people who used to be Republicans are not finding a seat at the table anymore. This actually may bode very poorly for the GOP in the long run, if only the Far Right has a home in the party.

    At the present this is something of a headache for more establishment GOP like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.

    My theory is more or less in line with Ari Berman-I think the realignment we've seen in politics over the last 10 years-the controversial Bush-Gore election was a major watershed-is mostly against the GOP. In the red states and the red regions you see more and more extremism. However their overall numbers are dwindling.