MADISON, Wis.—The tea party, at least its widespread influence on Republican congressional candidates, "is over," declared the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party group charged with electing Democrats to the House.
"House Republican incumbents—and their candidates—are running as far away from the Tea Party as they can," a pre-election DCCC memo provided to Yahoo News reads. "Regardless of whether [Republicans] win or lose, the Tea Party of 2010 is over. They've been forced on defense in the message fight all cycle long, and now those who win will have done so by giving up on the Tea Party."
The memo argues that Republican lawmakers who arose from the tea party are now promoting bipartisanship and willingness to compromise in their re-election bids instead of embracing the hard-line messages that propelled their campaigns two years ago.
It is possible, of course, that this Democratic declaration is premature. Tea party-backed candidates dominated Republican primary contests across the country in 2012, launching what could be a new class of future Republican leaders. In Texas, Ted Cruz defeated the establishment candidate backed by Gov. Rick Perry, and in Indiana, Richard Mourdock forced longtime Republican Sen. Richard Lugar into early retirement. Looking to 2013, tea party groups who are begrudgingly backing Mitt Romney have vowed to press him, should he become president, toward conservative positions.
The tea party, a grass-roots network of conservative activists, drove many Republican House and Senate candidates to victory in the midterm elections two years ago, but its influence seems to be overshadowed in 2012 by the presidential election. Still, the infrastructure that was built since the movement launched in 2009 has been used to promote Republican congressional candidates and serve as a backup ground game for Romney's presidential campaign.
Regardless of the health of the tea party's influence this election cycle, Republicans are widely expected to retain control of the House.
