Iowa: The End of the Tea Party?

The results in Iowa weren’t particularly good for the tea party. The anti-tax and anti-big government movement had no formal candidate, but it must be noted that their champions started out in pole position.

The founder of the Tea Party Caucus, Michele Bachmann, arrived last in the Iowa caucus. Rick Perry, the promoter of the Texan model of “low taxes, low services” was fourth. Although Ron Paul the libertarian took third place, he is too independent to have ever been a tea party favorite.

Neither of the top two finishers identify with the Tea Party. Rick Santorum has been a steadfast conservative for a long time, and his positions have always been centered more on values than on deficits.

And just weeks ago, Mitt Romney, the bête noire of the tea party, got an unfavorable rating.

However, to declare the end of the tea party would be premature. Specialists advise us to wait for the competition in South Carolina, a state that is very representative of the diversity of Republican factions.

Cerrtain parts of the tea party have also preferred to focus their efforts on the elections in Congress. They predict that the president, who might end up being the “moderate” Romney, will have to be kept on the straight and narrow by a Congress that is ready to fight.