Does the tea party still have the juice? | PBS NewsHour

The overarching question for May: does the tea party still have the juice? In races this month in places like Kentucky and Georgia, “establishment” candidates appear poised to beat conservative challenges. But in North Carolina, Texas and Idaho, the tea party is once again threatening. The GOP appears to have learned the lessons of 2010, when many Republicans argue tea party challengers cost them control of the Senate.

To that point, Democrats concede Republican establishment candidates will probably prevail in many of May’s races, but only because, they say, the GOP has co-opted the tea party. “It’s clear the tea party and the extreme right wing have overtaken the GOP establishment,” Justin Barasky, press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told Morning Line. “That’s why so many establishment candidates will be nominees — even though they’re no different than Ken Buck, Sharron Angle, etc.” Colorado’s Buck and Nevada’s Angle are two of the candidates blamed for GOP’s 2010 inability to make bigger gains in the Senate.

via Does the tea party still have the juice? | PBS NewsHour.