The Battle for Control

Last week was local election week for Democrats and Republicans in some U.S. states, a taste of what awaits the parties, particularly Republicans, in the November elections: an uphill battle, in which the insurgents are making their voices heard, especially those of the Tea Party, and moderates are a dying breed.

Of course, this is all obvious. Although they have been a big political sensation this year, giving an incredible vitality to local elections, which are always bland and boring, Tea Party members prefer much more radically right-winged candidates to the moderate candidates that the Republican Party prefers to show at the national level.

For now, Tea Party members have already achieved a great victory, although their candidate, J.D. Hayworth, lost in Arizona, where Law SB1070 has changed the entire political spectrum of the country. In fact, the law authorizes the arrest, apprehension and deportation of anyone who does not demonstrate legal status. Senator John McCain, the Republican who in 2007 crossed the line to go along with the late Ted Kennedy in search of a law to legalize 12 million illegals — who at that time were living on Uncle Sam’s land and claiming their right to stay — passed a law in 2010, asking for a tripling of immigration agents at the border and an outcry for “the immediate construction of a containment wall.”

Having abandoned his moderate positions on issues such as the previously mentioned immigration and energy, McCain, who has served four terms in the U.S. Senate, is now one of the loudest voices against illegal immigrants and calls for procuring alternate energy sources, no matter what the cost, in order to avoid dependency on Middle Eastern oil. It is not known if he will continue to be a radical right-winger after the November elections. Sarah Palin is the darling of the Tea Party and was his running mate in 2008. Palin broke with Tea Party members, accompanied him during the greater part of his campaign, and organized several events to raise money for him.

The situation was also difficult in Florida. Rick Scott, a Republican multimillionaire, defeated party favorite Bill McCollum in the primaries. Current governor, Charlie Crist, is now opting for the Senate as an independent, while Marco Rubio, a Cuban politician and a great favorite of Tea Party members, was nominated to be the next governor of Florida.

The Florida Tea Party sent letters all over the country, soliciting money to finance Rubio’s campaign, which opposes all the programs that Barack Obama is pushing from the White House. But the strange thing is that, during his speech, Rubio did not mention the Tea Party, or he forgot to mention them.

Analysts say that this is a change of strategy. If he goes with the Tea Party, he is going to lose the majority of the Hispanic vote in Florida, because Tea Party members want to impose SB1070, also known as the Arizona Law, in all of Uncle Sam’s territory. The Hispanic vote is vital to winning in Florida.

Things are heating up in Alaska. Senator Lisa Murkowski is losing by a handful of votes to Joe Miller, the favored candidate of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. As of now, there is no clear winner. Palin attacked Murkowski with such fury that it seemed almost personal, and many say that it is. Analysts claim that Lisa’s father, Senator Murkowski, passed the position to her, and that Palin aspired to be senator. For now, Miller is ahead, but they are awaiting the count of absentee ballots.

Who knows what will happen in Republican wings. No candidate dares to publicly contradict the Tea Party fanatics, while the directive is to be partisan or a bystander or to speak only to attack Obama and Democrats; thus, Trojans and Tyrians can claim that what is really at risk is the Republican Party itself and its future position before the great national challenges: jobs, the economy, social security and global leadership.