Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and National Coordinator of the nation’s largest Tea Party umbrella group was in Chicago this morning at a press conference just steps away from where Rick Santelli’s famous rant began the Tea Party movement in America.  This visit kicked off a 30-city tour encouraging the group’s members to spend the last days before the election focused on getting conservative voters to the polls.  The Tea Party Patriots claims over 2,800 local organizers in communities across America and millions of members.

Also on hand were Tea Party Illinois State Coordinator Denise Cattoni and Chicago Tea Party Coordinator Steve Stevlic.  Cattoni played a radio ad produced by the group and being broadcast across the state that urges Illinoisans to get more involved with the movement.  Stevlic debuted his group’s first ever commercial which seeks to dispel some of the negative stereotypes promulgated by the mainstream media.  It shows a series of ordinary voters explaining why they plan to “vote for liberty” in the upcoming election.

Martin was the focus of the event, however, and seemed determined to educate the media and voters on what the Tea Party was as well as her group’s plans for the election.  For instance, she emphasized that the group’s main purpose is to educate along three core values which she listed as Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets.  The group is organized in a bottom-up structure and the local organizers established a policy that nationally the Tea Party Patriots will be more effective long term by continuing to educate voters in these areas than by endorsing candidates in individual races.  When you educate voters in these areas Martin said, “They can take that information in their hearts and their minds every time they vote.  Not only on November 2 of this year but every time they vote for the rest of their life.  It’s much more about principles over party and principles over people.”

Stevlic recounted how his organization has been instrumental in supporting the campaigns of several candidates including Joel Pollak in his 9th district race against Rep. Jan Schakowsky who Stevlic contended is the most liberal member of Congress as calculated by GovTrack, the biggest spender as determined by the National Taxpayers Union, and the worst for growth according to the Club for Growth.  Tea Party volunteers have canvassed neighborhoods and done phone banking for Pollak, reaching over 100,000 households in recent weeks and raising the candidate’s name identification from 40% to 80% in the district, according to Stevlic.  Most importantly, Schakowsky, who has regularly been elected with 75% of the vote in her district, is polling at just 48% and Pollak is climbing fast.

Cattoni made a general appeal for more people to get involved with the Tea Party movement and, stressing the generally non-partisan nature of the group, urged people to vote saying, “Don’t complain on November 3 if you don’t go out and vote on November 2.”

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