What is next for the Tea Party?

By Kevin Price

The Tea Party fueled victories for the GOP are among the biggest in history. Republicans turned over 61 of the US House seats and will take over with a new Speaker in January. The GOP also saw impressive gains in the US Senate; picking up at least 6 seats in a year the Democrats has a 2 to 1 advantage in terms of contested seats. Furthermore, many state legislatures found both of their Houses in the GOP camp after the elections, reflecting huge wins were also seen in the governor races. In fact, there was a net increase of 6 GOP governors after these important elections.

For the GOP to claim credit for these wins would be the equivalent of a team mascot being seen as the Most Valuable Player. In many respects, the major Democrat defeats were in spite of the GOP and not because of it. This election, more than any I have personally witnessed, was a referendum on the status quo and not a rallying of support for Republicans. The Tea Party largely controls the GOP's destiny, if it chooses to stay in the game. That is one, of many things, this movement needs to do going forward:

· The Tea Party needs to continue to organize and mobilize. In spite of the inherent concern over trusting other elements of the movement and the many ego battles, the Tea Party needs to build more coalitions and develop more ways to work together.

· The Tea Party should demand the GOP acquiesce to its demands and remind it, daily, they would still be in minority party status if it were not for them.

· The Tea Party should support primary challenges to GOP leaders that appear to be deaf to their demands. Such challenges will force GOP leaders to move to the right and when they win (and it will happen) it will have a chilling effect on members of the Republican Party that wish to ignore the Tea Party. Furthermore, it will make room for Tea Party leaders to move into those positions. They say that 80 percent of all political battles are won in the primaries. If that is the case, only 5 percent of the population determines who will govern. Keeping this in mind can make a huge difference to the Tea Party strategy.

· The Tea Party needs to develop more activist training. I recently spoke at the Texas Patriot Leadership Meeting, organized by Houston Tea Party leader, Felicia Cravens and others in the Tea Party. In it, I discussed "how to communicate with the media," which is crucial for the Tea Party to learn if they are going to be players in the future. The "scorched earth" approach I see so often will make it difficult for the Tea Party to find allies and to get things done. Other training includes how to run for office, how to hold elected officials accountable, and much more, are needed. The Tea Party will need to continue to be both vigilant and diligent in order to be players in our nation's political future.

· The Tea Party needs to also educate on liberty. Seminars and events about both the issues and the philosophical ideas of liberty, are very important to the long term future of the Tea Party.

These are just a few of the areas the Tea Party must develop to take its movement to the "next level." Many believe that the movement is just a fad. If it is, it will be "business as usual" in no time. The Tea Party cannot stop now but must plan on creating an environment to keep the movement growing for decades to come.


-- Kevin PriceHost, Price of Business, M-F at 11 am on CBS Radio NewsFrequently found on Strategy Room at FoxNews.comSyndicated columnist whose articles appear on a variety of media outlets.His http://BizPlusBlog.com/ is ranked in the top 1 percent of all blogs by Technorati.Kevin Price's Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/PriceofBusiness