Credit to Kim Gerardo nbc news political anchor
Tea partiers in North Carolina have turned their immediate attention away from rallies and protests to the next big issue: the November election.
At a recent “kitchen table meetup” in Chatham County, all the talk among the group of 14 conservative-voters was ousting progressive county commissioners.
“I think the basic American does not feel represented that’s why these kitchen table meetups are starting,” said meeting host Randy Dye of Pittsboro.
They meet Wednesday evenings to talk politics and plan for the future.
Dye’s wife Gina led the discussion, “I really think November is going to be a test whether people are serious about change. We’ve had the rallies, the tea parties; it’ll be kind of a test to see if people are really committed to making the change or just making noise.”
N.C. 4th District Republican Congressional candidate BJ Lawson stopped by to hear concerns. He woos votes one by one, much like the tea party movement continues to build from the ground up.
But the tea party is not a political party. Right now the movement is a number of autonomous conservative groups with a common belief that the federal government in particular has expanded its reach too far.
“These are people who are really upset with status quo policy and the direction the country is going in,” said N.C. State University political scientist Andy Taylor. ”They generally beileve the government is spending too much, initiating too many programs, regulating too much and perhaps taking away too many liberties.”
But will these registered voters be a force of change in November?
“I think this will probably be a bad year for Democratic incumbents rather than Republican incumbents largely because of the general feelings out there amongst the public and those who identify themselves with the Tea Party movement,” Taylor said. “But will it be enough to push Republicans BJ Lawson and Bill Randall past Democratic incumbents like David Price and Brad Miller, respectively — that’s an open question. It’s going to be difficult, they’ve got a lot to overcome.”
Both districts have a heavier concentration of Democratic voters, so Repubulican candidates know they have to go after the unaffiliated vote.
The tea party movement includes many registered Republicans, but independent voters like David DeGerolamo of Wake County are attracted to the Tea Party cause as well.
“The recent financial reform bill was the final straw,” DeGerolamo said.
But even he admits ousting incumbents — no matter their traditional political party — is a long time coming.
“I think a national movement will occur over time. Some of the national movements right now are in it for personal agendas, and that’s not going to work when you are working with small grassroots groups at the state or local level,” DeGerolamo said.
Hear more from DeGerolamo, Dye, plus Triangle Conservatives Unite! founder Laura Long and N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer in the video monitor above.
View news clip at below link. They gave us over a 3 min, 45 sec segment which is unheard of for a news segment
