While Congress may be oblivious to the cries of the people. (“Nancy Pelosi could get 250 million phone calls in opposition and one in support. And she’ll still vote yes.”) But what it really does is build comradery. It lets others know that they are not alone. It builds activism.

II. Obama (top-down) campaign.

I think it’s interestin that in 2008 we saw the first real ground-up campaign America has seen in ages. That was the campaign of Ron Paul. Who often found himself following his own cart, which was running off ahead of him. When grass roots people organized money bombs leaving Ron Paul with more money than he knew how to spend.

Perhaps Ron Paul was too old, and not eloquent enough for a presidential run. Ron Paul really became a figurehead for a movement. Might be interesting to see what happens in regards to Ron Paul’s son Rand Paul.

I could see the potential for a successful bid by Rand Paul in 2016.

III. Primaries – wow, PA gets to vote in the 2010 primary. Unlike for the 2008 primary. Maybe I won’t turn in my Republican card just yet.

IV. Tea Party – how big is it?

Conservatives are just that “conservative”. Protesting is quite a common liberal behavior. (And I hate that word, maybe progressive, or leftist is better.)

Conservatives usually just got about their daily business. When one realizes there were 250,000-1,000,000+ people in D.C. on 9-12 protesting “smaller government” (a conservative issue, but also libertarian and classic liberal issue). And thousands elsewhere across the country. One needs to factor into their calculation the conservative factor. To have that large of a portion mobilized and motivated expresses that their is a significantly bigger part of the iceberg just below the surface.

V. Goal – “I realize that it doesn’t mean a GOP majority for every tea partier. ”

I would much prefer to see a new libertarian based Tea party replace the GOP. Bring fiscal conservatives and libertarians together. Providing a home to those liberals who believe in personal freedoms but are opposed to most other aspects of the Democrat party.

In our local area, the candidate forum is a great idea. It’s good for the candidates, but it also shows that there are people who care about the issues. And it’s actually not partisan, so if a moderate Democrat wanted to run, I imagine they would welcome him or her. At this point, most anyone is a better bet than our current guy.

We also have a great example from the 2008 race that didn’t have a thing to do with tea parties (obviously, since they had not started). A local community firefighter and township staffer decided to run. He did not seem to follow the typical party path, almost all of his signs and people were fellow emergency workers and people he had worked with through the community. He beat an incumbent favorite of the Democratic Party who was so bitter about his loss that he didn’t even show up to thank his supporters. That’s a shake-up. Not only did we win the seat back into better hands, but the incumbent showed his true colors and will likely never hold elected office again.