Tea Partiers Put a 'Bigtime Spanking' on Insiders in Weekend GOP Elections

Here's a turnaround.

Where the Republican Party of Florida elected traditional insider Dave Bitner as its chairman two weeks ago, three of four states voting for GOP chairmen Saturday went instead for tea party candidates.

Compare Bitner, a Jefferson County state committeeman who served as the District 71 state representative from 19922000, with these three tea partiers:

Kirby Wilbur, a radio talk-show host, won in the state of Washington. He trounced the incumbent chairman, Luke Esser, on the basis of the Republicans' "poor showing" in November versus how rabid the national mood was for change.

Jack Kimball, an outsider who created the million-dollar enterprise Great Bay Facility Maintenance Service, upset establishment favorite Juliana Bergeron in the New Hampshire GOP chairman race. Bergeron lost despite strong backing by outgoing Chairman John Sununu.

Tom Morrissey, who retired in 2008 as an investigator at the Arizona Department of Economic Security, won the Arizona chairmanship on the third ballot by a single vote -- he got 677 votes, with 676 required. His election is considered a huge setback for the establishment, including the state's two powerful senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl.

McCain ally Tommy Carlisle, who cast his vote for insider Ron Carmichael, told Sunshine State News on Sunday, "It was a bigtime spanking. ... It's something we have to pay attention to from now on, we'd be fools not to."

Only in Oregon, where no tea partier participated, did an establishment candidate prevail.