Tea Party Movement

After answering questions Monday morning about two of the controversies that have undermined his administration, President Obama flew off to New York to raise money for the Democratic Party. There, before partisan donors, he reflected on his second term and said he will continue to reach out to Republicans. "I sure want to do some governing," he explained. Obama's words suggest that he believes there is a way to compartmentalize the business of his second term: legislative and other business here, scandals over there.

WASHINGTON — Anger over President Barack Obama's policies drove businessman Tom Zawistowski to file paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service nearly three years ago to create the Ohio Liberty Coalition. His nonprofit organization largely attracted conservatives who were new to politics but concerned about the growth of government, fiscal issues and perceived threats to Americans' constitutional protections. It eventually swelled to more than 20,000 members, becoming one of the...

Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) said Thursday that they will not speak at a convention of "tea party" activists next week in Nashville, as had been announced. The two have been strong supporters of the tea-party movement, a loose confederation of conservative activists who opposed the federal bailouts of the financial system and auto giants GM and Chrysler, as well as President Obama 's proposed health-care overhaul. In separate statements, released by their congressional...

After answering questions Monday morning about two of the controversies that have undermined his administration, President Obama flew off to New York to raise money for the Democratic Party. There, before partisan donors, he reflected on his second term and said he will continue to reach out to Republicans. "I sure want to do some governing," he explained. Obama's words suggest that he believes there is a way to compartmentalize the business of his second term: legislative and other business here, scandals over there.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) beat back a stiff challenge from Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) to claim the title of most overrated governor in the country in the eyes of Fixistas. More than 9,000(!) votes were cast in less than 24 hours with Perry capturing 43 percent to 35 percent for Crist. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was the highest vote-getter among Democrats, taking 16 percent. None of our other three nominees -- Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.), Martin O'Malley (Md.) and Brian Schweitzer (Mont.)

The Occupy Wall Street protests spreading across the country are mobilizing liberal activists who have been largely sidelined in the national debate since helping to elect President Obama three years ago. This should be a relief to the White House, which is eager to excite a Democratic base that has grown disappointed in the president and less excited about reelecting him. But it is unclear whether this sudden burst of energy on the American...

LAS VEGAS — Republican leaders have begun reckoning with the fact that their party has grown increasingly out of step with a broad majority of American voters. While party leaders remain confident in their beliefs, they have identified a litany of problems and a steep set of challenges: flawed candidates, a problematic message, the alienation of nonwhite Americans who account for a growing share of the population, outdated technology and a political operation that is not up to that of the Democrats.

HONOLULU -- The Republican Party 's flirtation this week with a proposal to punish GOP candidates who do not commit to a list of conservative principles was about more than just purity. It was about winning over angry activists. The dispute was the latest example of the party's uncomfortable relationship with the growing band of disaffected conservatives who make up the grass-roots "tea party" movement. These activists remain deeply distrustful of political parties, yet their swelling numbers...

Chronicling the American political zeitgeist has never been easy — voters are fickle beasts — and in the past few years it's been nearly impossible to keep up. The tea party movement, that nascent power that drove the 2010 elections, has seen its popularity and influence wane as new movements on the left — Occupy Wall Street, for instance — have stormed onto the stage. Pity the soul who is trying to document the chaotic scene — someone like, say, Thomas Frank. In the past decade, Frank has...

WASHINGTON — Anger over President Barack Obama's policies drove businessman Tom Zawistowski to file paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service nearly three years ago to create the Ohio Liberty Coalition. His nonprofit organization largely attracted conservatives who were new to politics but concerned about the growth of government, fiscal issues and perceived threats to Americans' constitutional protections. It eventually swelled to more than 20,000 members,...

LAS VEGAS — Republican leaders have begun reckoning with the fact that their party has grown increasingly out of step with a broad majority of American voters. While party leaders remain confident in their beliefs, they have identified a litany of problems and a steep set of challenges: flawed candidates, a problematic message, the alienation of nonwhite Americans who account for a growing share of the population, outdated technology and a political operation that is not up to that of the Democrats.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-Ky.) came to Washington on the wave of the tea party movement to limit big government. "I think a lot of things could be handled locally . . . the more local the better, and the more common sense the decisions are, rather than having a federal government make those decisions," he said during his 2010 campaign . So how to explain his spoiling a move to give the District autonomy over its own tax dollars by — and this is really rich — injecting the federal government into local...

In the latest pitched fight of the GOP establishment against the party's conservative base, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst couldn't knock out a challenge Tuesday from former state solicitor general Ted Cruz for the Rep ublican nomination to the U.S. Senate. Dewhurst, after serving a decade in the powerful state post, entered the race a prohibitive favorite to win the nomination and succeed retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), but he saw his share of the vote slip in the final weeks of...

W hat in the world is the matter with the Republican Party? This is an election year when pretty much everything should be going the GOP's way. A Democratic president is facing the worst reelection environment in a generation. The conservative base is fired up to defeat him and should be riding high after securing the largest GOP House majority since the 1940s. Looser campaign finance restrictions have unleashed the ability of the party's wealthiest donors to...

Two years ago, Rep. Gerald Connolly's reelection race proved to be one of the hottest in the country, as the Northern Virginia Democrat held onto his seat by fewer than 1,000 votes . History does not appear likely to repeat itself in 2012. The two Republicans vying to face Connolly this time around are first-time candidates struggling to keep up with the incumbent in the fundraising department. And the new congressional map of Virginia awaiting federal approval would...

SARASOTA, Fla. — Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich assailed his chief rival for the party's nomination on Tuesday by using a local insult, calling Mitt Romney the "Charlie Crist" of the GOP field. His reference to the former Florida governor, who lost his Senate race in 2010, embodies Gingrich's strategy as he tries to ride a wave of momentum heading into the primary here next week: to channel the energy and power of the tea party movement that sank Crist and elected outsider superstar...

Ever since the tents showed up on McPherson Square in Washington, I've been trying to get a fix on just what to make of the Occupy D.C. movement. The protesters were a curiosity at first, then part of the workaday downtown scene, plopped down as they are on a small patch of park bounded by four busy streets. The occupiers seemed no more disruptive than a street reconstruction project, something to engage with caution or steer around. In recent weeks, it feels like we entered a new phase.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-Ky.) came to Washington on the wave of the tea party movement to limit big government. "I think a lot of things could be handled locally . . . the more local the better, and the more common sense the decisions are, rather than having a federal government make those decisions," he said during his 2010 campaign . So how to explain his spoiling a move to give the District autonomy over its own tax dollars by — and this is really rich — injecting the federal government into local affairs?

Chronicling the American political zeitgeist has never been easy — voters are fickle beasts — and in the past few years it's been nearly impossible to keep up. The tea party movement, that nascent power that drove the 2010 elections, has seen its popularity and influence wane as new movements on the left — Occupy Wall Street, for instance — have stormed onto the stage. Pity the soul who is trying to document the chaotic scene — someone like, say, Thomas Frank. In the past decade, Frank has created a voice...

RICHMOND — Republican Ken Cuccinelli II, Virginia's outspoken attorney general who has drawn national support from the tea party movement, confirmed Thursday that he will run for governor in 2013. Cuccinelli's candidacy sets up a potentially contentious — and expensive — primary fight against Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R), a presumptive gubernatorial candidate. "I hope you have known me long enough to know that I do this out of my love for our commonwealth and to further the principles on which this country was...