The 2012 presidential race may be two years away, but thats not stopping tea party activists around Tampa, host city for the Republican National Convention, from getting prepared for it, even as they are fully engaged for the mid-term elections in November.
Just across the bay in St. Petersburg, Largo, Clearwater and other locales, the Pinellas Patriots, an area tea party organization, hope to steer their country toward what they feel is the right track.
This is going to be a great opportunity, Eileen Blackmer, an organizer for the group said. Well be meeting with party officials when they come here. Members have already met with several notables this year, including former House Speaker and potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who gave out his personal e-mail address for people to send him their thoughts and ideas directly.
Were not star-struck, Blackmer explained. Our people are doing a lot of research and educating themselves and their friends and neighbors. This is what our movement is all about. Were not staying silent any longer.
Theyve additionally met with mid-term election hopefuls such as Florida Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum. The great part about this is that we dont have to go to them, a lot of them are coming to us, Blackmer said, adding that she expects even more courting from GOP candidates during the convention.
Karena Morrison, coordinator for the Abigail Adams Project of Florida, a national, nonpartisan voter education project started by the Homemakers of America and affiliated with the tea party movement, looks forward to the Republicans coming to town and all the media focus that comes with it.
Its nice to have the spotlight on Tampa, she said. We dont get a lot of national attention when it comes to politics. It will be nice to have a voice. Were a diverse community with Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Were looking forward to meeting with these lawmakers and are encouraging our people to get out in their communities and engage them. The convention will be the perfect place for that.
Many members have already begun volunteering for various convention events and positions in the hope of further getting their message across to the politicians, but also to help educate the public. Its hard to do research on every candidate, so getting that information out there, to me, is a No. 1 priority, Morrison said. Her groups website (http://www.aap-florida.com) features user-friendly candidate surveys for voters to inform themselves for the mid-term elections this year, an activity that will likely be duplicated and widely disseminated during the 2012 convention.
One concern for tea party members during the convention is infiltrators posing as members and misrepresenting their philosophies to a national media only too willing to distort their views, Morrison said. She noted that recent NAACP characterizations of tea party members as racists likely stemmed from such activities.
Similarly, elected officials claiming that tea party members hurled racist epithets and spat at them on Capitol Hill earlier this year without any proof makes me sick, she said, adding that theyre just trying to fire up their base. Blackmer agreed, saying it was simply a way of making headlines in the duplicitous mainstream press. The general public is intelligent enough to know the truth, she said.
Morrison recalled a recent Tampa tea party event where non-tea party member plants showed up, but members were already prepared with big signs saying Infiltrator and followed the faux tea partiers around until they left. Were trying to protect our image from people who purposefully come around and try to make us look bad, she explained. Our main weapon is the Internet and putting things in context, taking video and getting it out there. These are powerful things, things the mainstream media wont show or wont put into context. The truth is, we are just regular Americans tired of being walked on by an out-of-control government. We want our leaders to run their business the same way we run our homes, responsibly and with budgetary discipline.
The Pinellas Patriots, like the Abigail Adams Project, do not endorse any particular candidate. They simply ask that all the members back and work for the candidates they individually favor. However, they do know what they definitely don't want. We need to get the message out to everyone, that only true conservatives need apply, Patriot member Marie Moran said. We will back and support any and all true conservatives. I personally would have no trouble backing and working my tail off for a Democrat if he or she were a true conservative.
According to Blackmer, the main thing is fiscal responsibility. "We have a wide variety of membership with differing opinions on a number of things, but one thing that brings us all together is the federal deficit."
The Patriots promise to stay on top of candidates who make promises to cut spending only to break them once elected, regardless of their party affiliation. They're particularly upset with those who voted for big-spending items this year, who have failed to deliver and promise even greater deficits, such as the stimulus package, health care reform and the recently passed financial reform bill. Both Blackmer and Morrison are small-business owners who say these policies will do nothing but drive them under.
"Small businesses are the backbone of our country," Morrison said. "These policies are exponentially increasing business owners' burden and making it harder for them to succeed."
The problems, they say, are bigger than one party or one president. The uncontrolled spending has gone on for decades by both parties. The Republican National Convention in Tampa will provide a national platform for local activists to have their say and make a stand, but it will only be the beginning.
"Until we get responsible government back in place, this movement isn't going to die," Blackmer said.
Steve Brown is a freelance writer who lives in St. Petersburg. Reach him at stevebrowng@yahoo.com.
