KENNESAW, Georgia—The last great public battle between the Tea Party and the Republican establishment happened a few hours away from here, right over the Georgia–Florida border. One month ago, the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership decamped to Amelia Island for its annual retreat. Tea Party activists, furious at the presence of Republican leaders like Rep. Eric Cantor, followed them down. Gadsden-flag-wavers from northeast Florida and southeast Georgia gathered outside the meeting to shame them.
“We surrounded the place,” remembers William Temple. “Over the whole weekend they had to look out of their windows at rattlesnake flags!”
Eventually, the scene irritated former Rep. Steve LaTourette so much that the RMSP’s president stormed outside to get in Temple’s face. His might be the most famous citizen face in the Tea Party. Temple, a pastor in Brunswick, Georgia, shows up to an unbelievable number of conservative events in full Revolutionary War garb. A reporter searching for a generic photo of a “Tea Partier” usually plumps for one of Temple, waving his flag and bellowing “huzzah” after a Michele Bachmann zinger.
“So am I a traitor?” LaTourette asked Temple. “Am I a traitor?”
“I told him, if you’re supporting this PAC, you’re a traitor,” remembers Temple. “We’ve got all your faces. We know who you all are.”
But the Georgia Tea Party doesn’t know who its Senate candidate is. Last year, as soon as Sen. Saxby Chambliss announced his retirement, conservatives saw a chance to replace a deal-cutting, TARP-supporting Republican with one of their own. Georgia had produced William Temple, Tea Party Patriots, and the entire political career of Herman Cain—why shouldn’t it have a Tea Party senator? What did it matter if the Democratic nominee, Michelle Nunn, was polling unusually well? Rep. Paul Broun, who describes himself as being “Tea Party before there was a Tea Party,” jumped into the race. So did Rep. Phil Gingrey, a reliable vote against any compromise in the House and a reliable sponsor of anti-Obamacare legislation.
Both have faded in the stretch. In the campaign’s final week, Broun and Gingrey are burning their cash on TV ads and making appearances at friendly venues. Democrats, who had hoped to see one of them make the July runoff, now concede that the first round of the race will come down to 20-year Rep. Jack Kingston, wealthy businessman David Perdue, and former Secretary of State Karen Handel. Gingrey is closing by accusing Handel of “promoting teenage homosexuality” in her days as chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.
Broun is going out with a playlist of everything he’s failed to achieve since coming to Congress in 2007. At a Tuesday night meeting of the Canton Tea Party, Broun waved his pocket Constitution in the air and declared that he only put it down when he was “in the shower.”
“Let’s close down the Department of Education and get rid of Common Core once and for all,” said Broun. “And while we’re closin’ down things, y’all, let’s close down the EPA also. We’ve got to get the heavy boot of the EPA off of our economy. And while we’re shutting down things, y’all, let’s shut down the IRS also!”
Broun and Gingrey have their adherents, and some loyalty in the districts they’ve represented since 2007 and 2003. After a Republican Party dinner in Rome, Georgia—Handel was there, and Kingston sent his son John as a surrogate—local activist Mickey Tuck said he was sticking with Broun as long as he could.
“I’m kind of a Republican-leaning, libertarian—stand with Rand,” said Tuck. “Broun’s always been voting conservative. The other two congressmen changed their votes once they started running this year.”
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