I took a three-day trip to New Hampshire to attend the annual state party meeting. They elected a tea party-backed chairman–over the protestations of former White House chief of staff John H. Sununu, the outgoing party chief. In our lead story yesterday, I write that combined with other tea party victories, it’s an omen for the 2012 race:
DERRY, N.H.— If anyone thought the tea party movement would fade away after the November elections, content to have played a key role in ousting the ruling Democratic class and splintered by internal divisions, they were mistaken.
Saturday’s victory by tea party favorite Jack Kimball in the New Hampshire GOP chairman’s race provided the most significant evidence to date that the energy that activists brought to the midterms is now being channeled in a different direction—one that could reshape the 2012 GOP presidential race and require candidates to rethink the traditional approaches to winning the Republican nomination.
Read the rest here.
