Tea Party supporters grapple for a vision

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 600 delegates at the National Tea Party Convention feel taxed to death, ignored by their elected representatives and the media, and appalled at the federal government's spending. Their anger has helped claim some political scalps, and they vow to "take back America." What is unclear to them, and to the political establishment watching warily, is how they might do this.

Although the mood in Nashville has been festive, even giddy, the fluidity of the group has been on display.

Here was a California woman counseling people on how to register new GOP voters in their communities, but there were others who criticize the Republican Party as fiercely as they do the Democratic Party.

Here, attendees lashed out against the practices of the Washington, D.C., establishment, but there a man from Memphis announced the formation of a political action committee. Here, a former congressman delivered a fiery defense of America's "Judeo-Christian values," but there delegates walked out of a prayer session they thought crossed a line.

The convention, which concludes Saturday night with a keynote address by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in some respects has the feel of a big blind date. The delegates chatted each other up for a year online, checking out each other's ideas and grievances, and they thought they might have something in common. Now they are spending a couple of days together to see whether they like each other enough to be together.

Jeff Link, a jewelry maker from New York, says President George W. Bush started the fiscal policies that ruined the economy and President Obama is making them worse, a belief shared by many at the convention.

But, he says, looking at the crowd, which is overwhelmingly white and middle-aged, "it saddens me not to see this gathering more diverse."

Lori Christenson, who started the Evergreen-Conifer Tea Party in Colorado, wants politicians to act like their power comes from the people, not from their celebrity. Her group refuses to get involved with conservative social issues, which she calls "very, very divisive."

"I am coming to realize at this convention," she said Friday, over the thundering of a speaker from Judicial Watch, "that we are very, very different in terms of our beliefs. So now what?"

Organizers of the convention announced Friday they were forming a political-action committee (PAC) to raise money and provide political consulting and campaign management for tea-party-approved candidates. The Ensuring Liberty PAC, an offshoot of a newly incorporated nonprofit called Ensuring Liberty, will seek to raise $10 million this year to spend in races in the 2010 congressional elections, convention spokesman Mark Skoda said.

To start, it will back conservative challengers in five races in the South. In the most visible, organizers want to run a candidate against Sen. Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat who has been under fire for her votes on health-care legislation. In the coming weeks, organizers said they would identify 15 or so races for tea-party-backed challengers.

Material from The New York Times is included in this report.