Yes, the Dems were slaughtered last night, but at least we did a bit better than expected in the Senate races, primarily due to the tea party. In fact, but for the teabaggers the GOP would likely control both houses now.
And without the Tea Party, a lot of the energy would not have been there. I think it would have been a wash in the Senate and certainly a lower total in the House.
Even if the "Tea Party candidates" had won, Buck, Angle, O'Donnell, the GOP would not control the Senate.
There is little question that the TEA party created the energy that led to this wave. I went to a rally on 4/15/09 and saw about a hundred people that were not part of the usual scope of political activity in my area. They were fired up like I hadn't seen in years from regular folks. Rallies like that led to the town hall meetings in the summer of '09, meetings that crystallized the agenda for the election year to come. I saw a host of new committeemen and women emerge from those rallies and fire up a sluggish base. I fail to see how the wave of 2010 gets created but from the roots of 2009.
The disconnect between the TEA party and establishment GOP came about as the election year developed. There was little to harness the new energy and some establishment recruits were caught by the moment. Remember that recruiting was taking place well before the TEA party impact was fully perceived. In IL they had less effect in the primary because candidates had filed back in October of 2009. Other states with later primaries saw a larger impact.
Clearly the establishment would have liked the TEA party to channel its energy to the recruited candidates, but that's not how wild new energy exerts itself. The election is now over, but the energy is still there. There will also come more political maturity as new politicians inspired by the TEA party gain their footing. This will be an interesting cycle building towards 2012.
