PHOENIX — Tea Party supporters packed a Phoenix convention center Saturday to hear from two possible contenders for next year’s Republican presidential nomination — an election the conservative populist movement is determined to shape after helping the GOP to big gains in the midterm elections.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty aimed to impress more than 2,000 members of the Tea Party Patriots with a full-throated call to “take back our country.”
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, already embraced by Tea Party members, also spoke. The segment of engaged voters could prove vital to Republican White House hopefuls, but it is an audience that is skeptical of the politicians courting their backing.
“They’re good speakers. They know what to say to inspire an audience. But I’m looking for substance I haven’t found yet,” said retiree Kaye Woodward of Livingston, Texas, who has been a mainstay at Tea Party events from Washington to the Alamo. “I haven’t been gung-ho for a candidate for quite some time. I’m looking for a truth teller, and I’m not sure I’ve found one yet.”
Potential candidates are trying to figure out how far they need to go to win over the Tea Party — and what spoils that would bring. Democrats are watching too, eager to portray President Barack Obama’s eventual challenger as beholden to the political far-right.
Pawlenty waved a copy of the U.S. Constitution after railing against “the royal triangle of greed: big government, big unions and big bailed-out businesses.”
For Pawlenty, the event is his most overt attempt to reach out to the Tea Party movement. Most of his fellow 2012 Republican presidential prospects passed on the event, citing scheduling conflicts.
Paul, who ran for president in 2008 and is thinking of doing it again, urged Tea Party members at the conference to keep up the pressure for sweeping change.
“I wish I could say you were the majority, but we are still the minority,” Paul said. “But remember, an irate minority can accomplish a whole lot when you’re determined to do it.”
All of the Republicans considered likely to run for president have said they believe in the core Tea Party principles of limited government and fiscal restraint. They play up their own efforts to stymie the agendas of President Barack Obama and the congressional Democrats — most notably the federal health care overhaul that gave rise to the Tea Party movement.
It has yet to be determined how the Tea Party will influence the GOP primaries and the general election, if at all.
Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler said candidates hoping for a tangible payoff from efforts to woo its members probably won’t see one. Unlike interest groups that dangle endorsements, Tea Party members think they will wield more clout if their umbrella organization withholds any kind of official backing.
“Once the endorsement is made, that politician owns the group,” Meckler said. “It doesn’t matter anymore. You are now part of their literature. You are now part of their stump speech.”
The Tea Party portrays itself as a leaderless web of activists, and this could complicate any collective display of might by splitting Tea Party support among several candidates.
