The Tea Party movement has been a defining force in 2010. With its aim zeroed in at the power structure of Washington, this political whirlwind has energized some Republicans and independents and left others shuddering. Some GOP leaders have feared that the movement’s candidates — most have never held high elective office — would cost the party a chance at grabbing control of the Senate. With the exception of Christine O’Donnell’s campaign spectacularly crashing, costing the GOP dearly in Delaware, Tea Party-backed Republicans are either running ahead of Democrats or about even. In Republican-dominant Utah, Mike Lee is expected to easily win. Marco Rubio, one of the first candidates to tap into Tea Party fervor, is cruising in Florida. Here’s a look at six other Tea Party-backed candidates in six races that will keep political junkies on the edge of their seats Tuesday night.
?Grew up in a household of avid Democrats in East Providence, R.I., and graduated from Harvard.
?Business career includes stints as an international currency analyst and co-founder of a string of sports bars.
?Was three-term US representative before becoming president of Club for Growth, which supports fiscally conservative politicians.
Campaign: With his longstanding attacks on business-as-usual in Washington and his fervent push for fiscal conservatism, Toomey had been a Tea Party-type politician before there was a Tea Party. His decision to challenge longtime GOP Senator Arlen Specter sparked a series of decisions that altered the political landscape in Washington. Specter, who barely beat Toomey in 2004, decided he could not win a rematch and switched parties, giving the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority until the election of Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Despite White House backing, Specter still lost the primary to Joe Sestak. Toomey backs replacing the income tax system with either a flat tax or consumption tax and calls for a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget. The success of his campaign depends on the heartland of Pennsylvania, a state that Democratic consultant James Carville once characterized as (liberal) Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with Alabama in between.
Prospects: Although his numbers have been slipping, Toomey still has a lead of 4 percentage points.*
?Son of US Representative Ron Paul of Texas, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate whose libertarian backers formed a cornerstone of the Tea Party movement.
?Has practiced ophthalmology for 17 years.
?Running for seat of retiring Republican Jim Bunning.
Campaign: “I have a message, a message from the Tea Party, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We have come to take our government back,’’ Paul said in May after he became the first candidate backed by the movement to win a primary. He did so resoundingly, crushing the establishment candidate endorsed by his potential Senate stablemate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. It did not take long, however, for libertarian views to land Paul in hot water. He suggested that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should not apply to businesses and questioned whether the federal government should have a role in food or worker safety, prompting a storm of attacks. Yet his tough talk on the need to cut government programs and stiffen eligibility for entitlement benefits has attracted a strong following. The race has turned particularly ugly, with ads by Democratic nominee Jack Conway characterizing sophomoric pranks Paul allegedly did in college as anti-Christian and potentially criminal, a ploy even some Democrats say is desperate. Also, a video of Paul supporters pinning a protester to the ground and stepping on her head has inflamed emotions on both sides.
Prospects: He has maintained a rather sizable lead throughout the fall and is now up by almost 9 percentage points.
?Started an Oshkosh company that makes plastic packaging material.
?A political neophyte, he became drawn to the race after speaking at a Tea Party rally.
?Has pumped $4.4 million of his own money into the campaign.
Campaign: Johnson was catapulted to a primary win when the establishment candidate unexpectedly dropped out and supported him. He started as an underdog against incumbent Russ Feingold, but by pitching himself as an outsider and Feingold as a big-spending, out-of-touch insider, he has become the late favorite. He also has combined a well-regarded quirky ad campaign touting “the Johnson Way” with such provocative quotes as “I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change’’ and calling the health care overhaul the ”greatest assault on our freedom in my lifetime.’’
Prospects: Johnson maintains a lead of about 5 percentage points.
?Earned All-Ivy League honors as a punter on the Princeton football team.
?Served as a lawyer and investigator for Dick Cheney, then a US representative, during the Iran-contra hearings and worked as a prosecutor for the Justice Department.
?Served 14 years in the US attorney’s office before becoming district attorney for a county north of Denver.
Campaign: His upset win over the GOP establishment candidate put him against Democrat Michael Bennet, who was appointed to replace Ken Salazar when Salazar was named US interior secretary. In this ideologically splintered state, Buck has generally avoided moderating his positions to attract independents. He opposes abortion except to protect the life of the mother and suggests ending Social Security benefits for well-off Americans. He also calls for overturning the new health care law and opposes cap/trade legislation, while backing nuclear energy.
Prospects: Buck’s lead in the polls has been dwindling -- down to less than 1 percentage point.
?Co-founded a K-12 Christian school.
?A grandmother of 10 and a weightlifting aficionado known to carry a .44 Magnum handgun.
?Earned a reputation in the Nevada legislature for opposing nearly all bills, with votes of widely popular legislation becoming known as 41-to-Angle. Led fight in state and federal courts to preserve state rule requiring two-thirds legislative vote to pass tax increases.
Campaign: In an upset, she won the primary over the establishment candidate for the chance to grab one of the top trophies of this election for the GOP: the seat of majority leader Harry Reid. Her campaign, however, has suffered through several misfires of intemperate remarks, awkward run-ins with media and voters, and backpedaling from hard-line views, such as privatizing Social Security and Medicare and eliminating the EPA and departments of education and energy. She has, however, been able to raise a staggering amount of money -- $14 million in last quarter -- and her strident pitch against the Beltway mentality has resonated with Nevadans in one of the states hardest hit by the housing downtown. Reid, on the other hand, has struggled to spark much enthusiasm among independents.
Prospects: After swapping leads with Reid in the polls for much of the late summer, Angle has seemed to regain her footing, up by 3 percentage points. Fans of politics might need plenty of coffee for this one: Returns will probably be coming in through the early morning.
?A West Point graduate, he earned the Bronze Star in the Gulf War.
?A Yale Law graduate, he served as a state judge and federal judge.
?Lost his first attempt for elective office, for state representative in 2004.
Campaign: Propelled by support from fellow Alaskan Sarah Palin, Miller won a stunning upset in primary, edging out GOP incumbent Lisa Murkowski, a body blow to national Republican leaders. That was only Act I in this political drama. Murkowski has bounced back with a write-in campaign that features fliers picturing skis to guide voters on how to spell her name, and Democrat Scott McAdams is showing life in a state where his party had been on the edge of extinction for years. Miller vows to drastically cut the size of government, but the only thing shrinking now is his lead. His campaign has been freighted by controversy recently, with charges that his family had received various federal benefits despite his criticism of such programs. With questions swirling on how to verify Murkowski’s write-in votes and with potential challenges to thousands of ballots expected, campaign watchers say Alaskans could be in for an extended and contentious tallying of ballots.
Prospects: It’s a tossup between Miller and Murkowski, with McAdams about 10 percentage points behind.
*All poll results are from an averaging of recent surveys by political website, fivethirtyeight blog.
SOURCES: New York Times, Washington Post, campaign websites
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