Tea Party Candidates May Cost GOP

Mark Halperin of Time assesses possible consequences of Tea Party candidates wins in GOP primaries.

The activism and patriotism of the Tea Partiers are admirable, but the GOP has put itself at risk long term. Republican leaders in Congress and the party's potential 2012 presidential candidates didn't show any public concern when Tea Party-backed candidates like Rand Paul in Kentucky beat establishment choices in primaries. Party strategists have claimed the anti-Obama energy is so strong among the right and center (matched by malaise on the left) that in almost every district and state in the country, the Tea Party label and the sometimes off-beat or extreme views of a Republican nominee won't stand in the way of victory this year with anti-Obama sentiment running so high. They are likely to be right in most cases this year.

But (Delaware GOP Senate nominee Christine) O'Donnell is different. She is the canary in the coalmine for a level of intraparty bloodletting that will likely cost the party one Senate seat in November. And if the GOP establishment doesn't figure out how to build a bigger tent and still win elections, the price Republicans will pay will be a whole lot higher starting on November 3, into the new Congress, and when they try to beat Obama in 2012.

--Ballard Burgher