This morning, 20 grassroots tea party groups across the state of Nevada released a joint statement rebuking the candidacy of Scott Ashjian and the attempt to hijack the tea party brand through a third party filing.

Our group, The Patriot Caucus (we now have statewide operations in Nevada), is a proud signer of the statement.

For Immediate Release: March 10, 2010
From Nevada grassroots and tea party leaders
Subject: Unified Statement / Grassroots Nevada is United

We, the grassroots/tea party leaders of Nevada, speaking for the conservative activists in our communities, are united in issuing the following statement.

• We are united in denouncing the TPN (Tea Party of Nevada).
-o The TPN is not a conservative party who speaks for grassroots and tea party activists in Nevada.
-o The TPN is not now, has never been, and will never be affiliated with grassroots efforts in Nevada.
-o The term “Tea Party Candidate” will no longer be used to indicate grassroots support for a candidate or candidates.
-o The TPN will not be invited to or allowed to represent themselves at conservative grassroots events and functions across Nevada.
• We are united in our desire for fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability from legislators and in legislation from Carson City, NV and Washington, D.C.
• We are united in opposition of progressive leanings towards unfunded mandates as a solution to appeasing special interest and delivering ‘social justice’.
• We are united in the belief that our government should be inspiring pride and accountability, and personal strength and opportunity, not a path for us to follow to have our needs met as the government sees fit.

We, the tea party activists and grassroots organizers in Nevada, are united.

Signed on March 10, 2010:

-Anger is Brewing / Debbie Landis
-National Precinct Alliance / Tony Warren
-Citizens Awareness Network / Jesse Law
-Nevada Action Coalition / Duane Smith
-Citizens in Action / Juanita Cox
-Nevada Families Eagle Forum / Janine Hanson
-Fallon Tea Party II / Bob Clifford
-Nevada Patriots / Diana Orrock
-Gardnerville Tea party / Ron Stevens
-NvRA / Travis Christensen
-Glenn Beck Meetup Group/ Sally Minster
-P.A.C.T. / Janice Baldwin
-Grassroots Nevada / Jamie Costello
-Reject Reid / Sheila Danish
-Las Vegas 9-12’ers / Jeff Waffle
-Nevada 9-12 Americans / Charlene Bybee
-Las Vegas Tea Party / Frank Ricotta
-Western Representation PAC / Dustin Stockton
-Patriot Caucus / Eric Odom
-Winnemucca Tea Party / Mike Myrhow

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My fellow conservative leaders, I write to you today to ask you and your membership to join me and my members in defending our movement against the most serious assault on our rights that we have seen to date. What is happening with the Steve Christopher Campaign for Attorney General demands IMMEDIATE action by all of us. We need our members to start calling newspapers, radio stations and TV stations around the state and demand that they start investigating this story. Our members need to do what we did for Scott Brown in Massachusetts and go to Steve website (www.SteveChristopher.org) TODAY and donate to help his campaign. Here is why:

On Thursday, February 18, 2010, Steve Christopher hand delivered 2,700 signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, that were gathered by our members in 40 different counties to get him on the ballot against Mike DeWine in the Republican Primary. Attached you will find a PDF copy of the signed, dated and time stamped “Candidate Financial Disclosure Form Acknowledgement” which clearly states that a Brian Shina, Chief Elections Counsel, received the filing of approximately 2,750 signatures. Last Friday, March 5th, 2010, Christopher’s campaign started receiving phone calls and emails requesting comment that the Secretary of State’s Office disqualified his petitions for failure to obtain enough valid signatures. Apparently, the Secretary of State’s Office issued a press release containing work logs which showed that Steve Christopher had only submitted 788 total signatures, of which 638 were found to be valid. Since a total of 1,000 signatures were required to be placed on the ballot, Christopher’s petitions were disqualified. On Monday, March 8, 2010, confirmation was made with the Secretary of State’s Office that they released the information and that they claim to have only 788 total signatures for Steve Christopher. They are implying that Steve Christopher submitted 788 signatures for a position that required 1,000 total signatures. Obviously, no one would take the time to drive to Columbus and submit less signatures than they needed to get on the ballot.

We have copies of ALL the signature petitions. We have a signed receipt. Volunteers from all over Ohio spent the weekend going over every signature one-by-one and confirmed that 80%+ of the signatures are valid. By that yardstick, Steve Christopher turned in at least DOUBLE the number of signatures needed!!! The people of of Ohio have followed the law and done what is required to put Steve Christopher on the ballot in the primary election and we are being denied the right to vote for the candidate we chose. We can not allow this to happen.

This is not the first time that Jennifer Brunner, the Ohio Secretary of State, has had problems running her office. Clearly, the petitions were delivered and they either lost them, or for political reasons someone in her office destroyed or otherwise got rid of 1,962 petitions signed by the citizens of Ohio. State Senator Tim Grendell is calling for an investigation, which we think is appropriate. Brunner is either simply incompetent or, worse yet, is allowing someone in her office to break the law. Either way, we need to get to the bottom of this. What is unbelievable is that Brunner wants to be our next US Senator.

Let me make clear about what is happening and why we need to act TODAY. On a conference call with Steve Christopher this morning, Steve pointed out that groups were starting to cancel speaking engagements because “he was no longer a candidate”, people who were going to endorse his candidacy are not holding back those endorsements. Steve then told us that the lawyer he had to hire in Columbus with the expertise in these matters is going to cost a minimum of $10,000.

So the question we have to ask ourselves and our members, is will we allow this to happen in our state? Will we allow this to happen to US? Steve Christopher stepped up and agreed to run against Mike DeWine because we were all angry about how Kevin DeWine got David Yost to move to the Auditors race so Mike DeWine could run unopposed. We, our members, got 3,000 signatures for Steve in less than seven days!! Now we are going to let the incompetence of the Secretary of State take him out of the election and just let it default to DeWine?? I don’t think so. That is not what Patriots do when faced with adversity. It is our Constitutional Right to put the people we want on the ballot and that RIGHT shall not be denied.

TODAY, we need to get this travesty on the radar of our local and state media. We are also trying to get Fox News and other national and regional talk shows to cover it. I am asking you to put out the word to have your members call all the media outlets in your area today. Then have them go to Steve’s website and donate. If we don’t fund the legal fight, we lose. If we fight the fight I assure you we will win, because we are right and we have the law on our side. Our goal is to raise a minimum of $10,000 by Friday. I will keep you posted on how we are doing. It is time to get to work. We will win this fight and I promise you that we will put the fear of God into the Ohio Republican Party when Steve Christopher defeats Mike DeWine in the Primary.

Best Regards,

Tom Zawistowski
Executive Director
Portage County TEA Party
4682 State Route 43
Kent, OH 44240

Steve Christopher looks like a fantastic candidate when compared to far left incumbent Mike DeWine. But even if he wasn’t a good candidate, we should all want every American to have equal access to the ballot. It appears as though the Ohio Secretary of State might be blocking Steve Christopher from exorcising this right.

Please give Jennifer Brunner’s office a call and let her know how you feel about this!

Jennifer Brunner
Ohio Secretary of State
Phone: (614)-466-2655
Toll Free: (877)-767-6446

Brunner’s office is on Facebook as well…

Also worth mentioning is the fact that Jennifer Brunner is an ACORN backed, self proclaimed “progressive.”

For Liberty,
-Eric Odom

UPDATE: THE PDF PROOF IS LOCATED HERE

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For those of you unaware, a third party called the Tea Party of Nevada just registered with the SOS. I’ve been researching and emailing around ever since, and here is what I’ve come up with so far:

I cannot find any evidence that any of these principals have ever been involved in any Tea Party activities, until now. I’ve emailed a number of Tea Party organizer-activists in the state and so far, nobody has ever heard of any of the principals – except for Barry Levinson because he is a Las Vegas attorney.

I’ve now been living in Nevada for a week (I’ll be here for the rest of 2010) and I’ve already spoken with several tea party organizers across the state who believe Mr. Ashjian is in some way in this race to help Harry Reid keep his seat.

The Las Vegas Sun said the following:

One thing has become clear in the days since the mostly obscure political upstart Jon Scott Ashjian became a candidate for U.S. Senate: He’s no stooge of Sen. Harry Reid.

I’m not personally convinced that Ashjian is a “stooge” for Harry Reid, but I think it’s certainly safe to say that his agenda does not include what’s best for the movement. I say this because I believe that if Ashjian actually did care about doing what is best for the movement, he never would have gotten into the race to begin with.

In a recent guest appearance on Fox News, Ashjian is confronted with the fact that he has virtually zero support within the actual Tea Party Movement. In typical spin fashion, Ashjian deflects the question and repeats his talking points.

Several activists, bloggers and reporters are currently looking into the background of Ashjian as many are still convinced he’s an intentional spoiler. I have doubts on whether or not anything significant will be found. We have to remember that the “powers that be” have been at this for years and have millions of dollars at their disposal. If there is a coordinated effort happening, I imagine those pulling the strings have done their homework.

In other words, don’t expect to find any smoking gun on this.

But in my view, that isn’t as relevant as many are trying to make it. I believe the fact that Ashjian is even in the race is enough evidence of his blatant disregard for the wishes of the Tea Party Movement. Nevada activists, Nevada tea partiers, tea party organizers, and even national tea party related organizations (including ours) have all rebuked Ashjian and his candidacy, yet he continues on with his bid for the seat.

There is no doubt that Ashjian is the best hope Harry Reid has to keep his seat. I know it, you know it and Ashjian knows it. Ashjian will indeed pull votes away from the Republican candidate in the race, and in a race this big, those votes can and will make a world of difference.

With this in mind, our advisory committee is considering a protest in Nevada to demand that Ashjian withdraw from the race and immediately stop pretending to represent the wishes of the Tea Party Movement. We’ll have an announcement about this tomorrow, but in the meantime we would love to know how you feel.

Please vote in the poll and share your thoughts using the comment form below.

After you vote, please click here to spread the link/poll on Twitter.

For Liberty,
-Eric Odom

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The reality is the Tea Party movement has dramatically changed the political landscape of the 2010 election cycle. It was not too long ago that the only voices being heard across the nation were those of the politicians, but today we are hearing the voices of the American people. In many instances, people who once sat in their living rooms watching the evening news have now become the evening news themselves. What were once one-sided political speeches are now open dialogues between the politicians and the people.

Only someone in a state of complete denial would fail to recognize the voice of the American people has been restored (in great part) through the Tea Party movement. People, who used to look around the room before making political statements, are now making their statements in the public arena without regard for who may hear them.

Of course the liberals are angry with and in opposition to the Tea Party movement - it is not politically correct and it does not hide its head in the sand while allowing the world to go by in Washington, DC. And finally!….decisions that are made in Washington, must be made in light of the voices of the American people which have become too vocal to be ignored.

The Tea Party movement is being misrepresented and mischaracterized by the liberals, progressives and leftists – some of it intentional, some of it out of ignorance. One of the most blatant examples was a segment on the MSNBC program, “The Dylan Ratigan Show” in what was supposed to be an interview of Mark Williams from the Tea Party Express. Instead, it became a passionate and personal tirade from Ratigan manifesting his “anger”. Oddly enough, the left thrives in attaching the word “anger” to the Tea Party movement.

One of the most vivid illustrations of the recognizable force of the Tea Party movement is seen in Nancy Pelosi’s changing perception. It was not too long ago that she said the movement was not “grassroots” , but “astroturf” . In doing so, her purpose was to tie the Tea Party movement to the special interests of the wealthy by giving them tax cuts that would not be enjoyed by everyone else. Now she says, “we share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C., as — it just has to stop. And that’s why I’ve fought the special interest, whether it’s on energy, whether it’s on health insurance, whether it’s on pharmaceuticals and the rest.”

It is not of importance as to what the liberal left paints the Tea Party movement to look like - they will paint what they will paint. What is important is that we know who we are and what we are about. Some in the Tea Party movement are trying to paint themselves as the “official leader or group within the movement” . The fact remains that there are thousands of freedom loving American people, with each individual “officially” making up what we know as the Tea Party movement. The day that fact changes, we will cease to be a movement and we will become an organization, with the power being transferred from the “many activists” across the country to the “few leaders” in the home office.

Movements are born in momentum, and right now, we must keep the momentum moving……..

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Perry ran an anti-Washington campaign labeling Hutchinson as a Washington insider who would bring a Washington agenda to the state of Texas. This is a message that could resound throughout primary elections in other states. In the Texas governor’s race, the anti-Washington factor trumped the anti-incumbent fervor that is sweeping the nation. Perry is Texas’ longest serving governor, now in his 10th year.

In her concession speech, Hutchinson did not mention her political future; except to encourage her voters to throw their support behind Perry. Her third term in the Senate runs through 2012, but she said in a broadcast last month she would leave Congress before the November general election. Many Texas conservatives prefer she reconsider and finish her term, a desire shared by some of her colleagues. Sen. Judd Gregg said Hutchison is “one of our best” and should remain in her Senate seat. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas who serves as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Tuesday, “I’m not sure there will be a special election. . . . She could well decide to serve out the remainder of her term.”

Perry will face Democrat Bill White , the former Houston mayor, in a race that both Democrats and Republicans expect to be very competitive with close results. White won the Democratic nomination with 75.99% of the vote, even though he had six challengers. The Democratic Governors Association has exhibited their confidence in White’s ability to defeat Perry by giving him $500,000 with more expected to follow. White’s campaign is taking the “outsider” approach.

In the Republican primary, Perry was able to label Hutchison as the epitome of everything that’s wrong with Washington which was music to the ears of many people in the Tea Party movement. Even though this was just one primary and in a very conservative state at that, there are some observations that could play into other primaries as well.

1) Anything to that even “sounds or smells like a Washington insider” is suspect. Hutchison made the mistake of touting how many federal dollars she had brought to the state of Texas at a time when Pork Barrel spending and state funded favors are getting significant negative attention. Hutchinson said, “It definitely has made it more difficult for me. I didn’t think that anyone could turn my success in producing results for Texas into a negative.” That is exactly what Perry was able to do.

2) Anti-Washington Republicans, even if they are an incumbent, have an advantage with Tea Party movement voters. Perry had a non-incumbent challenger in Medina who identified with the Tea Party, yet he still pulled a large percentage of Tea Party votes. He was able to do so by effectively criticizing a big-government, big-spending Democratic agenda. He proved that Republicans who embrace anti-federal government views and policies can attract these voters without turning off the GOP base.

3) A solid Tea Party identity does not translate into automatic Tea Party votes. Medina - who many considered to be “the” Tea Party candidate — did not pull enough votes from Perry to force a runoff, let alone win the nomination.

4) In order to defeat an incumbent who has a favorable rating, the challengers must give the voters a clear reason to choose them rather than the incumbent. Hutchison gave reasons such as “coming home to Texas”, “I love the state of Texas” , or “Gov. Perry is trying to stay too long.” She never really gave a reason as to why Perry should not serve another term or why Texas Republicans should upset the status quo of two popular people in positions of power - one in Austin as the governor and the other in Washington as a senator. The status quo has been good for Texas in many ways where the recession has been less devastating than in other states, the unemployment rate is below the national average, and corporations are not being bailed out. Perry has received much of the credit for the state being in better shape than others.

In the final count, the voters rejected change — and Washington.

Though Tea Party “identified” candidates did not pull off of any major victories, Medina put up strong numbers at 18%, despite the fact she was running against two very strong challengers in Perry and Hutchinson. Phillip Dennis , who sits on the steering committee of the Dallas Tea Party said Tuesday morning, “Certainly, a lot of her (Medina) supporters in the Tea Party movement are very vocal and very motivated — and they will vote.” The question is, “will the traditional voters for Perry and Hutchison turn out in the numbers that they need.”

One incumbent who did lose to a Tea Party identified candidate was Republican State Rep. Tommy Merritt who lost to David Simpson . After the votes were counted, Merritt said of Simpson’s voters, “I’ve never seen these people before. They’re not the Chamber people. They’re not the normal contributors to the community….The Tea Party people were just out for a scalp on a stick.” In HD-83, Tea Party candidate Charles Perry is in a run-off against State Rep. Delwin Jones.

Where the Tea Party movement did play a huge role in the primary was in the number of people who voted. From all indications, many people who did not vote in 2006 did vote this year – for Medina. In 2006, total turnout was 655,919 but Tuesday’s primary drew over 1.4 million voters to the polls. When asked if credit goes to the Tea Party for huge increase in voters, Dennis said, “Absolutely.”

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The message of those first Tea Party events was simply “enough is enough.” A year later, we have developed such political momentum that the Republicans “need our help and support” and the Democrats “must take into account our voice and conservative influence.” Neither party can now make major decisions without taking into account the power and influence of the Tea Party Movement.

Many people have tried to paint a picture of the Tea Party Movement as angry Republicans, religious right-wingers, obstructionists, out of touch conservatives, astro-turfers, tea baggers and a host of other descriptive names and/or phrases. The fact is, there are five general principles that define the Tea Party Movement: 1) Fiscal Responsibility, 2) Personal Responsibility, 3) Limited Government, 4) Rule of Law and 5) National Sovereignty.

Chuck Norris has written a masterpiece on the birthday of the Tea Party. In this article, Norris takes us on a brief journey through the last year, but more than that, he reminds us of our great heritage as a nation.

While we celebrate the journey of the Tea Party Movement to this point, we still have a ways to go. Enjoy the moment, but do not lose sight of the journey that remains. The Obama Administration is more determined than ever to rule with the rod of “progressive” iron regardless of the freedoms, desires and needs of the American people.

teablogger

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North Dakota Senator Conrad has now switched his position several times. From the North Dakota Taxpayers Association…

Late last week, another story surfaced that Senator Conrad is now fully behind the idea of used the Budget Reconciliation Process to force a healthcare bill, any healthcare bill, through congress. According to the story:

The Senate “was not designed to have everything require 60 votes,” Conrad said. “It wasn’t designed to prevent important action on the problems facing the country.” If a supermajority is effectively necessary to pass any piece of legislation, he added, this “puts a great deal of pressure on going to more of a reconciliation process to deal with things.”

A couple weeks ago, I told you about how last April, the Wall Street Journal quoted Senator Kent Conrad as saying:

“I’ve been as clear as I can be publicly and privately that I don’t think reconciliation is the right way to write fundamental reform legislation,” Mr. Conrad said. “It wasn’t designed for that purpose.”

Then in May, Senator Conrad wrote an OpEd in the Wall Street Journal, and in his own words said:

“I have opposed, both publicly and privately, using reconciliation for anything other than its intended purpose, which is to reduce deficits.”

Now, over the weekend a video of Senator Conrad from 2001 decrying the notion of using the Budget Reconciliation Process for anything besides budgets and deficit reductions was discovered.

You can view the video here.

North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy told CNN the move would be “legislative trickery.”

Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota likened the move to “legislative trickery.”

Pomeroy recently told Politico that the healthcare debate was putting him in a position that is so bad he might as well retire.

In an emotional talk with other Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee this week, North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy said the protracted debate is hurting him so badly back home that he might as well retire if it drags on much longer.

Clearly the Budget Reconciliation Process is a bad idea. Why then would Democrats be pushing it so strongly? Especially when they all had this to say about it just a few years ago.

Democrats in Washington appear to be willing to commit political suicide and go against what the American people are telling them to do. Special interest and far left agendas are driving thie machine right now, and our wishes are not being considered.

We need to contact the important votes in Congress and continue to make our voices heard. A list of key congressmen and their phone numbers can be found here.

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Last week we posted a poll for our readers that asked a simple question.

Would you support J.D. Hayworth in his run against John McCain in 2010?

The results? Out of about 3,500 votes, 79% of you said you would indeed support Hayworth in his challenge to John McCain for the Arizona Senate Seat.

As I told our committee on our conference call with J.D. Hayworth this week, the overwhelming amount of emails coming in support of J.D. Hayworth makes this feel like the special election in MA for Scott Brown that took place earlier this year.

In that particular scenario, Scott Brown was the underdog just six weeks before the election. In fact, at the time, he trailed by 30 points! But once the movement unified and rallied behind him, he was able to overcome the special interest and big money behind progressive candidate Martha Coakley.

It is the opinion of our committee that John McCain has become a problem for our movement. His progressive positions in the Senate have been damaging to our efforts, and in many cases he appears to position himself against what we as a movement stand for.

Erika Franzi, organizer for the Asheville Tea Party sent us the following statement.

“John McCain, the man who was once the ‘maverick,’ is now the personification of the mushy-middle, establishment Republican. His memorable bipartisan efforts, including Campaign Finance Reform, Climate Stewardship, Amnesty, and TARP, demonstrate his lack of regard for the constitutional limitations of the federal government. Senator John McCain is not a liberty candidate. Asheville Tea Party supports J.D. Hayworth’s bid to replace Senator John McCain as the GOP candidate for Arizona Senate.”

Erika hit the nail on the head with her statement, and our committee fully agreed that it’s time to oppose John McCain in a public manner.

Many, MANY tea party organizers responded to our email earlier today asking about their thoughts on the matter. Those in support of Hayworth include Jason Carey (Tea Party Organizer - Sag Harbor, NY), Erika Franzi (Asheville Tea Party), Marlene Bonilla (Tea Party Organizer in Kansas), Jennifer West (9/12 Organizer from Hattiesburg), Laura Boatright (California based Tea Party Organizer), Allen Coniglio (Buffalo, NY Tea Party Organizer), Diane Benjamin (Illinois based Tea Party Organizer), Ralph Reagan (North Carolina based Tea Party Organizer), Joni Schmidt (Texas based Tea Party Organizer), and many others.

Arizona Tea Party Organizers like Easton Kelsey and Keith Sipmann have also thrown their support behind J.D. Hayworth, and other Arizona organizers are getting involved as well.

Liberty First PAC, including its projects TaxDayTeaParty.com, The Patriot Caucus and The American Liberty Alliance will all now fully support Hayworth and strongly oppose John McCain.

If we as a movement unify in this particular race, we can make a HUGE difference in the outcome.

We challenge each of you to do the following:

-Contribute to help us get as active as we can in the Arizona race. You can contribute online now via our main website or via Paypal here.

-Email everyone you know and ask them to get involved

-Share this information with your local tea party groups and activists

-Spread the message via Facebook, Twitter and other social networks

-Visit J.D. Hayworth’s website and sign up for his updates

It’s time to fire John McCain from office. Are you ready to help make it happen?

For Liberty,
-Eric Odom

UPDATE: For those looking for Hayworth’s voting record, we would like to point you to American Thinker and the American Conservative Union ratings.

J.D. Hayworth’s last full year in Congress was 2006. His 2006 ACU score was 96, his 2005 score was 100, and his lifetime average was 97.56. His lifetime average put him in 16th place in the 2006 House, or in the top 4%

UPDATE: Keith Sipmann, an Arizona Tea Party organizer and Chair of Tea Party Arizona PAC, sent us the following statement.

We are supporting JD Hayworth because he was one of the first in the state to publicly and officially support the Tea Party movement. He believes in many of the core values and beliefs that the conservative movement is built around. A lot of people may say that he is just riding the Tea Party and conservative movement to become elected, and I beg to differ. In reality, with the help from grassroots organizations like ours and others, he helped us establish and ground the Tea Party movement in Arizona by giving us a microphone to speak out…This was all before he decided to run for any office mind you.

UPDATE: Easton Kelsey, founding Vice-Chair of Activism/ Candidates of the East Valley Tea Party Patriots, sent us his statement.

The Founding Fathers agreed that the Senate should be occupied by ’seasoned statesmen’. I believe JD Hayworth more aptly fits that description than any other candidate. JD is a strong adherent to providing national security and securing our borders and enforcing immigration laws is key to this most basic Constitutional protection.

Check out one of Hayworth’s latest web ads…

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That is statement is simply not true, especially when a federal election is involved. There are 100 senators in Washington DC who are deciding US policy by writing bills and then voting on them. US policy applies to and affects every American in every state. If all 100 Senators vote on a measure, the US Senator from your state is 1% of every vote that affects both you and me. If less than 100 Senators vote, the percentage is even higher.

Each US Senator represents not only their state, but the United States. They is why they speak in terms such as, “I represent the American people”, or “This is what is best for the American people.” Your US Senator is voting on my taxes, my healthcare, my protection,…….etc.

The same is true of US Representatives. The primary difference is there are a greater number of them, leaving each one to represent a smaller percentage of the vote. However, your US Representative is also my representative. If he/she votes to pass a measure that includes pork barrel projects for your state, the people of my state will share in paying for it. The same is true in reverse.

What about state elections? The United States is a family of Americans. What affects one family member (state) affects all other family members (states). Your state assembly member may be our next US Senator or Representative. The success or failure of your state has a ripple up or down affect on my state. If your state is liberal and the people of your state move to my state, I have been affected by their liberal agenda. If your state has a conservative victory, it is motivation that my state can have a conservative victory as well. The Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts is the most recent example.

We are the United States of America, and as such, we are in this together.

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This post is going to be blunt… supporting third party efforts in 2010, in most cases, would be a complete disaster for the Tea Party Movement.

If you follow tea party news, you’ve probably seen the announcement that a third party “tea party” officially formed in Nevada and has its own candidate going on the ticket against Harry Reid. But as it turns out, the people behind this effort are strangers within the tea party movement. In fact, we haven’t been able to find anyone who knows them!

The Nevada News Bureau did some digging and found some questionable facts about the people running the “tea party” party.

I cannot find any evidence that any of these principals have ever been involved in any Tea Party activities, until now. I’ve emailed a number of Tea Party organizer-activists in the state and so far, nobody has ever heard of any of the principals – except for Barry Levinson because he is a Las Vegas attorney.

In Florida, a third party “Tea Party” was filed and the principles started threatening Florida Tea Party groups in an attempt to get them to stop using the tea party name. Florida tea party activists fired back with a lawsuit of their own.

A handful of conservative state activists filed a lawsuit last month against Doug Guetzloe, along with lawyer Fred O’Neal and another associate, after O’Neal filed papers last year with state officials registering the name “Tea Party” as an official political party — and then allegedly warned other tea party groups to stop using that name.

In both of these scenarios, there could be a candidate on the ballot with “tea party” next to his/her name. In both of these scenarios, the party of these candidates is considered by most to be a complete joke. But that likely won’t stop these third party candidates from siphoning votes from another candidate.

And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which party it will take votes from.

The reality is that in both of these scenarios, the third party will do far more damage than it will good. In Nevada, for example, Harry Reid stands to benefit the most.

Third Party Fantasy

Some tea party activists still think a third party is the right way to go. We get email every day that suggests the two party system has failed us and we should try a third party.

The problem is, however, the third party route has already been tried and failed. Not only has it failed, it has never really had any success at all!

We essentially have two paths to choose from. Both have flaws, both have areas that have caused damage to America. But we have a duty to weigh the advantages vs. disadvantages of each alternative and make an informed decision based on the path with the most potential.

The decision cannot be based on emotion or revenge. This is not the time to get back at anyone. This is not the time to take revenge against a party.

Instead, this is the time for us as a movement to choose the vessel most likely to carry new candidates into Washington. And more importantly, replace incumbents in Washington.

To put it bluntly, there are many, MANY incumbents who hope tea party activists take the third party pill.

In all honesty, that pill would spell complete disaster.

My two…

-Eric Odom

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Much to our surprise, there appears to be an overwhelming amount of support for Hayworth within the movement. A lot of activists are looking to oppose John McCain in some way, shape or form, and those who are following our political action committee are curious to see if we might get involved.

To be honest, we have indeed had a private conversation with Mr. Hayworth, and he has a lot of very good things to say. Hayworth is also no stranger to running tough campaigns, and his support base is extremely loyal.

John McCain, on the other hand, has a ton of money, a wealth of campaign experience and a well grounded campaign operation.

What McCain does not have, however, is the support of the grassroots movement that has dominated politics in the past year.

The question is, though, does JD Hayworth have this support?

You tell us.

UPDATE: Some of you have emailed asking why Jim Deakin is not in the poll. This poll was NOT published to see who would win a primary in a three way race. If you read the title of the post, you’ll see that we were clearly only interested in what kind of support is out there for Hayworth.

Furthermore, the only reason we even posted this is because we were getting emails from Hayworth supporters. To do this date, TaxDayTeaParty.com has not received one single email in support of Jim Deakins. We’re sure Deakin has support and he’s probably a great candidate, but we simply haven’t seen a support base large enough to provoke a response.

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The invitation is obviously political in nature. If not, President Obama would have made such an invitation to begin with. On the surface it effectively takes the ball out of Obama’s court and places it in that of the Republicans. Below the surface, it is an opportunity for Obama to answer the criticism that he has not been transparent, he has not engaged the Republicans and he negotiated backroom deals in an effort to get the necessary votes to pass the bill. Bob Blendon, a health policy and political analyst at Harvard University said, “The president is trying to turn around the sour mood on this issue and mitigate the criticism that he’s ramming this bill down people’s throats.”

Republicans are distrusting of Obama’s intentions and say they are not going to compromise on a bill that polls show is opposed by a majority of Americans and will drive the nation further into debt. Republican Representative Tom Price said, “Republicans welcome honest discussion, but this event reeks of political gamesmanship. The only constructive discussions will start with a blank sheet of paper.”

House Republican leader John Boehner said, “The best way to start on real, bipartisan reform would be to scrap those bills and focus on the kind of step-by-step improvements that will lower health care costs and expand access.” The White House has said the purpose of the meeting is not to start over with Healthcare Reform, but to pick up where it left off. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said, “The president doesn’t think we should start over.” One White House official said “This is not starting over. Don’t make any mistake about that. We are coming with our plan. They can bring their plan.”

Some believe such a meeting will lead to more political point-making than actual compromise and progress. Representative Dave Camp, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told Reuters, “I don’t think it’s possible to compromise on this bill. The structure of it is done in such a way that it is going to raise costs, raise taxes and empower government to get between people and their doctors.” The danger of opponents of the current Healthcare Reform Package is that a partisan gridlock could give Obama an excuse to move the bill through a budget process that requires only a simple majority of 51 votes in the 100-member Senate, bypassing Republican opposition.

Democrats are doing everything possible not to be at fault should Healthcare Reform fail to pass. What this strategy seems to miss is that the American people, by and large do not want the bill to pass. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said, “We have promoted the pursuit of a bipartisan approach to health reform from day one.” In other words, if the reform bill ends up in gridlock it is not because of the Democrats unwillingness to reach across the aisle. The first responsibility of any elected official is not to reach across the aisle, but to represent the desires and best interests of the American people within the perimeters of the Constitution. More often than not, reaching across the aisle is very expensive compromise. On a more positive note, the Presidents invitation is the recognition that he must have at least some Republican support to get the bill passed since Scott Brown, who campaigned against what he called the Democratic Party’s government takeover of the health-care system broke the Democrats hold on 60 seats.

The meeting is coming at a time when Democrats are expressing their confusion about how the White House plans to deliver a health care reform bill this year, after two weeks of inconsistent statements and little hands-on involvement by Obama. At the Thursday night fundraiser, Obama seemed to acknowledge for the first time that Congress may decide to scrap health care altogether — an admission that blunted his repeated and emphatic vows to finish the job. The White House said Obama’s remarks were misinterpreted and he intends to finish health reform. Obama said to Couric, “What we have to do is just make sure that it is a much more clear and transparent process. I’ve got to push Congress on that.”

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “The President is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass meaningful health insurance reform legislation. He began this process by inviting Republican and Democratic leaders to the White House on March 5 of last year, and he’s continued to work with both parties in crafting the best possible bill. He’s been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit.”

The debate about the meeting is whether it will be a summit to accomplish something together or a show trial to push the two sides further apart? Many people believe Health care is a dead issue and it best be left dead in the greater interest of the American people. Obama’s invitation appears to be a political setup! If the Republicans do not accept the invitation, Democrats know that the liberal media will condemn Republicans for being irresponsible and obstructionist. If the Republicans accept the invitation, this will turn into yet another debate resulting in more name and blame.

All in all, it is just more campaigning with no real leadership. As voters, we must continue to shout “enough is enough.” Our conservative leadership must do the same. House Minority Leader John Boehner and Republican Whip Eric Cantor posed a series of questions about the ground rules for the meeting writing. “Your answers to these critical questions will help determine whether this will be a truly open, bipartisan discussion or merely an intramural exercise before Democrats attempt to jam through a job-killing health care bill that the American people can’t afford and don’t support. Bipartisanship’ is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support.”

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This is a good problem to have, and it suggests to us that activists within the movement are ready for a fresh, new direction. Our planning team in no way claims to speak for the movement, nor do we believe we’re a “leadership” organization within the movement, but we’ve certainly been here since day one and we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of patriots find ways to be involved.

And because of this, we believe we’re well positioned to help take the movement to the next level. The Patriot Caucus is one of the vessels the movement now has to help us get there.

Patriot Caucus conferences are now scheduled for Philadelphia, Boise, Omaha, Birmingham, Indianapolis and Las Vegas. These regional conferences provide training, networking and resource shops for tea party activists.

Patriot Caucus Summary
In short, The Patriot Caucus exists to play a role as “Electoral Activism” arm of the movement. As many of you know, our federal PAC, the first of its kind “Tea Party PAC” has made national headlines and won its first victory last week in Illinois.

We’re currently building a slate of candidates and races to help direct tea party activists to districts where we can be effective. We’re working to back these candidates with financial and marketing support. And finally, through the Patriot Caucus, we’re seeking to develop a national network of GOTV campaigns and political activity that will influence the outcome of elections.

The Patriot Caucus is the “campaign” arm of what we’re up to, and you’re invited to be a part of the action!

Patriot Training
-Online Activism
Learn how to harness the power of social media, blogging, online organizing, online event planning, online fundraising, micro-site marketing, email marketing and more!

-Public Speaking
Many tea party activists and organizers have requested a crash course on ways to become a better public speaker. Our training on the subject will help you become more comfortable and effective when addressing audiences of all sizes.

-Media/Public Relations
Press release campaigns, media lists, media blitzes, TV appearances, radio shows and letters to the editor are all vital in properly communicating your movement message. Learn how to streamline your message and properly handle the media.

-GOTV (Get out the vote) Organizing
GOTV will make or break the results of an election. It’s extremely important that we organize local networks and events aimed at getting actual votes on election day. This session will provide you with tips and tricks and how to get out the vote through creative and fresh new ways of organizing.

-Coalition Building
Divided, we fall. But united, we as a movement cannot be defeated. Our Coalition Building session provides insight into the importance of unifying our movement through networks of activists who can work together towards the same goal.

-Precinct Organizing
The party structure has used us for years. It’s time we start using the structure to our own advantage.

-Grassroots Campaigning
The basics of running a grassroots political campaign.

About the Patriot Caucus Conferences
The Patriot Caucus conferences are generally two day events. We operate these events on a shoestring budget to ensure the least amount of financial investment possible. The conference will have a simple $25.00 registration fee to attend all sessions, training and panels.

Philadelphia - April 16-18, 2010
Birmingham - April 23-24, 2010
Omaha - May 1-2, 2010
Boise - May 7-8, 2010
Indianapolis - May 14-15, 2010
Las Vegas - May 18-20, 2010

More information about the conference and details about registration can be found on the official website at ThePatriotCaucus.com

Sincerely,
The Liberty First PAC Team

-Joe Pandolfe, Hawaii based Tea Party Organizer
-LaJuana Gillette, Arizona based Tea Party Organizer
-Jean McClellan-Chambers, Arkansas based Tea Party Organizer
-Janice Birnbaum, Indiana based Tea Party Organizer
-Eric Odom, Illinois based Tea Party Organizer and Founder of TaxDayTeaParty.com
-Dani Martin, Arkansas based Tea Party Organizer
-Steven Foley, Tea Party Activist
-Susan K. Southwick, Utah based Tea Party Organizer
-Michael Durbin, Missouri based Tea Party Organizer
-Michael Johns, New Jersey based Tea Party Organizer
-Daniel Smeriglio, Pennsylvania based Tea Party Organizer

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The problem, of course, is that the movement has no head. There isn’t a national organization that can claim ownership over the movement, nor can any group claim to be leading the movement. The tea party movement, instead, is ran by thousands of activists at the local level. And that is where the flaw in the far left smear strategy comes to light.

But they’re still pumping their twisted message into corporate media, and unfortunately, some tea party activists are buying into it.

The biggest attack as of late is the lashing out against people who are paid to work within the movement. It’s absurd to suggest that people who do this full time should not be paid, but they’ve somehow spun that to mean that people are “profiting” off the movement. And even more absurd is the fact that some tea party activists within the “free market” movement are upset that some entrepreneurs have created a means through which they can pay some bills through their activism.

Kevin Jackson, one of the movement’s most talented voices, posted this comment on Facebook today.

Friend of mine said that somebody complained that I speak at events for money! I asked if the inquirer wanted me to accept carbon credits? Some of these “grass roots” people are as idiotic as Libs! I have 4 kids, two in college, and this is the way I make my living! But I should do all this for FREE!

Jackson has a very good point. Yesterday we posted some links to books being sold about the tea party movement. These were books we recommended, and we wanted to help the authors make a few bucks for their hard work.

EDIT: You can check out Kevin Jackson’s book “The Big Black Lie” here.

In no less than an hour, I had emails from people complaining that the authors were trying to make money off the movement. Words cannot describe how disconcerting this is to me.

First of all, Richard Behney, John Ohara and Stephanie Anderson, all three of whom are tea party organizers, have worked far more than full time jobs in this movement when the time called. There is certainly justification for compensation. But more importantly, we as “free market” activists should applaud their work in writing these books and we should reward them with our pocket books, not balk at them for doing so.

The reality is, there are many people who now work full time in this movement. The emails you get, the information you’re provided with, the events you see developing, the projects that are underway… much of this would not happen if people were not compensated for some of their time. As Kevin Jackson pointed out, people who travel and speak at events, and those who help build projects and organizations within the movement have bills to pay.

It goes against everything we stand for to suggest that people should not be compensated for anything in this movement. It flies in the face of entrepreneurship, and quite frankly, it would have our founding fathers turning in their graves.

And with regards to the claim of “profit” within the movement. Let’s be clear… being compensated is one thing, “profiting” is another. Yes, there are multiple organizations that ask for donations to fund projects. But that in no way means they “profit” from it. And to assert such is complete assumption. And in some cases, rather slanderous.

The Real Tea Party Profiteers

Now let’s talk about those we know profit from the tea party movement. Corporate media.

Isn’t it ironic that Huffington Post, Politico, Talking Points Memo, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and many other media outlets will title a column with the words tea party movement in it, then line the page with ads, then use the column to accuse the movement as “profiteers?”

I mean, think about it. These people are not working to advance the movement. They aren’t traveling around to work with coalitions at the local level in order to help them be more effective. They aren’t leaving their families for a weekend to go speak at an event that needed help, they aren’t putting out detailed information that activists need in order to find out what to do next, and they aren’t working with the movement to help get liberty minded candidates elected.

Yet, they clearly write what they write for… PROFIT! If what they write is not profitable, they wouldn’t write about it.

Indeed, the real Tea Party Profiteers are those running the smear campaigns against the movement.

We would be wise not to play into their game.

-Eric Odom

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Highlight boxes on the web page focus on three men, one of which is Randy Hultgren with the caption, Randy Hultgren has taken right-wing positions on spending, health care, abortion, and gay rights. He sponsored a bill to remove protections from discrimination because of sexual orientation, and claims the health care bill “will kill people.” Call Randy at 630.549.0139 and tell him to reject the dangerous ideas of the Tea Party.

The Tea Party Is Over is paid for and approved by American Public Policy Committee (see bottom of TPIO web page). According to the records, the top two donors for American Public Policy Committee this year are Patriot Majority and Patriot Majority West.

The Patriot Majority has the same street and suite address as the Sandler, Reiff and Young Law Firm. Joseph Sandler was the general counsel to the Democratic National Committee who filed a motion to dismiss Philip Berg’s eligibility lawsuit against Obama and the DNC. Sandler is also former counsel to both MoveOn.org and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim group named an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorist-finance case in U.S. history.

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