[neverdem]

The author obviously doesn't understand the Tea Party movement or the anti-incumbent mood of the electorate. It will be up to the GOP to decide if it wants to "join" the Tea Party movement, which has no intention or desire of taking over the local Rep party or establishment. The Tea Party movement is a non-hierarchical confederation of many local grassroots groups. It has some basic principles and beliefs that the GOP must gravitate towards or face the prospect of an eventual third party movement. It is up to the GOP to tap into the movement, not the other way around.

In Power Push, Movement Sees Base in G.O.P. (Tea Party Movement)

HOLLAND, Pa. — The Tea Party movement ignited a year ago, fueled by anti-establishment anger. Now, Tea Party activists are trying to take over the establishment, ground up.

Across the country, they are signing up to be Republican precinct leaders, a position so low-level that it often remains vacant, but which comes with the ability to vote for the party executives who endorse candidates, approve platforms and decide where the party spends money.

A new group called the National Precinct Alliance says it has a coordinator in nearly every state to recruit Tea Party activists to fill the positions and has already swelled the number of like-minded members in Republican Party committees in Arizona and Nevada. Its mantra is this: take the precinct, take the state...

--snip--

Conservatives took the Republican retreat as a victory, but also saw the power of the party structure in deciding who the candidates will be. The rallying cry for more local involvement has been “No more NY-23’s.”

“We don’t want to see what happened in New York happen here,” Ms. Przybylski said.

The forum here drew nine candidates and a standing-room crowd in an auditorium built for 1,200. The questions organizers had drawn up for the candidates hinted at the issues important to so called Teapublicans.

--snip--

Each was asked to define the 10th Amendment, and to cite examples of where it “might have been violated.” “It’s my favorite amendment in the Constitution,” exclaimed one candidate, Ira Hoffman. “I can’t believe it!”

--snip-- Ms. Stefano, a stay-at-home mother and former television reporter, will have to get 10 signatures and put her name on the ballot to run. But the National Precinct Alliance estimates that about 60 percent of the roughly 150,000 local Republican committee seats are vacant and can be filled by essentially showing...

[c-b 1]

But the National Precinct Alliance estimates that about 60 percent of the roughly 150,000 local Republican committee seats are vacant and can be filled by essentially showing.

That's a fact, we have several precincts that have no PCs, others we keep all the openings full, we haven't been able to get people to get the 10 signatures to get on the ballot. I typically get the signatures for all the PCs in my precinct.