That's true as a general rule, but Google also seems to able to control the terms that are suggested, and will do so for particularly "hot" search terms.
Yes, and the "suggested search" list is usually longer than five items long, particularly in cases such as this. Given the number of sites parroting the "Was DailyKOS involved...?" story, you'd expect "DailyKOS" to appear in the drop-down list. Google may not have created the suggested search with "Tea Party", but you can bet they're steering searches away from their buddies.