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I live in the 7th district in Florida - a district that, in spite of an overwhelming Republican majority in our legislature, was created in the recent post-census redistricting. District pitted our longtime congresscritter, John Mica, with Tea Party-supported Sandy Adams who had finished her 1st term as congresscritter from a then-district involving primarily Brevard County/Space Coast. Adams had not had any involvement in our area, while Mica has been in Congress since 1993. Mica was a bit of a conundrum, in that while he was a big-govt spender (esp with transportation issues), he had an otherwise good conservative voting record. Thus, he was able to get significant support from both establishment and even some well-known conservative figures. There was not a significant local push (that I could see) to get Mica out of congress.

Furthermore, Adams ran a horrible campaign. She was barely visible, with the exception of 1 very good ad that ran a fair amount; I didn’t see any email and only a little social media presence. And, in spite of Sarah Palin’s (whom I adore) support, this was limited to robocalls (no ads, in-person campaigning, etc). Contrast with Mica who ran a very aggressive campaign with not only extensive TV ads, but direct mailing and a very sophisticated email and social media campaign. It was obvious that Mica was much better funded, organized and strategized. No one in his previous district was surprised Mica won going away.

I wanted to describe this race in detail in order to argue against extrapolating its result to a “demise of the Tea Party” meme. This was a rather unusual race, pitting 2 sitting congress critters in a newly cobbled district with 1 of the critters having a decades’ long presence there and the other essentially no presence. We don’t love Mica, but - outside of his penchant for mega-transporation boondoggles - he does seem to be pretty reliable votes for conservative budgets, repeal O’care, right to life, etc.

Looking at the US Senate primary, again no one was surprised that Connie Mack did well. He has extraordinary name recognition (past US Congress, legacy political family in Fla) and truly very little was known about his poorly funded opponents.

Florida is a truly battleground state with, even on the Repub side, a mixture of extremely red areas and some purplish ones. It has a history of “moderate” GOP statewide election winners (Jeb Bush, Mel Martinez) but occasionally will propel true conservatives (eg Rick Scott) into statewide office. Given Florida, I would contend that the Tea Party in Florida DID do well on Tuesday. Alan West won overwhelming in a liberal S. Florida district. And, in the 3rd district (N. Florida), longtime congresscritter Cliff Stearns was upset by little known and TEA PARTY FAVORITE veterninarian Ted Yoho (no prior political experience). So, like we saw in 2010, the TP has significant grassroots power nationwide and in Fla. Does that translate to winning every election? Certainly not, as some are obviously much “fairer” contests (pitting GOPe vs TP philosophy) than others. Additionally, we have to keep in mind that the TP is only 2-3 years old, yet its influence has grown such that the GOP-e-ers know that it’s a force to be reckoned with (even when they get into Washington). And, it’s doubtless that the makeup of the 2013-14 Congress will have more TP influence than the present 2011-12 one. Despair not!!