On January 28, 2010 the Tea Party of Nevada filled the necessary documents (Nevada Constitution, Party Bylaws and Party officers) with the Secretary of State’s office, and according to The Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston, they are now recognized as a third Party in the State of Nevada.
The Tea Party of Nevada even has a candidate, Jon Ashjian, that will run for the US Senate seat that is currently held by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in the General election November 2, 2010.
But in order for the Tea Party to qualify as a permanent Party, they need to get at least 1 percent of the votes in November. So they have a lot riding on this election. And from what we have seen the last year by the Tea Party, the majority of the populist movement appears to be Independent and Republican, with a very negligible number of Democrats.
So how much will this hurt the Republican Party candidate for US Senate that ends up running in the General election this November? A vote for the Tea Party, will certainly be a vote lost by the Republican Party.
The front runners in the Nevada GOP race for US Senate include, Sue Lowden (R-NV), Danny Tarkanian (R-NV), Mark Amodei (R-NV), Sharron Angle (R-NV) and John Chachas (R-NV). And some of these candidates have been trying to ride on the coattails of the Tea Party.
And all of this bodes well for Senator Reid who has been taking a beating here in Nevada from attack ads and the constant disparaging headlines in the conservative newspaper the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
And this past Tuesday Sarah Palin stood before a crowd of Republicans and Tea Party supporters in Arkansas and proudly told the Tea Party faithful, you are not strong enough to field your own candidates and we have a two Party system, and the Tea Party is not one of them. Palin definitely got that wrong.
Several of the Republican candidates will be trying to convince the Tea Party faithful that they are more in line with the Tea Party ideals, than the Tea Party itself and the candidates that they field. It will certainly be another exciting election year now that there is another Party to contend with on the ballot.
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Comments
What a big mistake!
Don't believe that just because a couple people file some papers and call themselves the "Tea Party" party that they actually have anything to do with the Tea Party movement.
From what I've seen, Nevada Tea Partiers don't know of the principals involved with this 3rd party or have had anything to do with them. Some report that they are 9/11 "truthers."
If you don't have the support of Tea Partiers, it's hard to say you are a Tea Party party in anything other than name only.
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