Beware the teabags of March

Apparently, the downside of inciting a torch-and-pitchfork mob is that you can’t always control where they’ll maraud. Who knew?

Across Texas, at least five Tea Party activists have announced their candidacies for U.S. House and Senate seats.

“If you are going to have a throw-the-bums-out (mentality),” said Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, a Democratic group, “the bums (in Texas) are the Republicans.”

While Tea Party activists have rallied from New York to New Mexico, Cal Jillson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University, believes the Lone Star State is particularly fertile ground.

“The Tea Party movement is stronger in Texas than in many other places,” Jillson said. “It’s a presence throughout the country, but in the conservative parts of the country with a strong populist tradition, it seems to play a stronger role.”

Some are beginning to wonder if the national GOP may have created something it can’t control.

“The thing that the Republican incumbent fears the most is a challenge from the right,” Jillson said. “If you look anything like a moderate Republican, the talk-radio right could come out against you.”

Funny how these things work, isn’t it? I don’t know how to quantify the viability of all this. On the one hand, this is the base, and one presumes they vote in primaries. On the other hand, loudness and the ability to garner press coverage is an inadequate measure of a movement or candidate’s actual appeal. The money factor is important, too, and on that score I expect the incumbents to have a huge advantage. If this movement really gets organized and raises some money for its candidates, it could be a force down the line. I don’t see that happening next year, but who knows? It’ll be fun to watch.

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