Provo, Salt Lake City tea party rallies draw hundreds

SALT LAKE CITY — A cross-country tour aiming to drum up support for the burgeoning tea party movement and knock incumbents out of political office in upcoming mid-term elections drew hundreds Tuesday at stops in Provo and Salt Lake City.

The junket, which includes a caravan of tour buses carrying musicians, radio personalities and conservative activists, launched last weekend in Searchlight, Nev., at an event that brought out thousands to a desert rally that featured an appearance by former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The event culminates with an April 15 "Tax Day" rally in Washington, D.C.

The tea party movement began last year with gatherings of conservatives upset by federal government bailouts of troubled financial institutions. Supporters of the cause are calling for reductions in government spending, lower taxes and a return to the tenets of the Founding Fathers, especially in regards to individual and state sovereignty.

A Utah Highway Patrol trooper on Capitol security detail Tuesday estimated that about 700-800 had gathered near the building's south staircase. Addressing those attendees, Mark Williams, chairman of the Tea Party Express group that organized the tour, said the movement is a populist effort that does not require a figurehead.

"This battle is being fought in lots of venues and lots of different areas, and there's lots of moving parts to this," Williams said. "And don't ever let anybody tell you there's this monolithic tea party philosophy. If they do, just say, 'Listen, it's called the U.S. Constitution.'

"And if somebody says, 'Who's the tea party leader? … Look them right in the eye and say, 'I'm the tea party leader,' " he said.

The express organizers gave time to three of the 10 challengers looking to unseat Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, a move in keeping with the tour's moniker: "Just Vote Them Out!"

Tim Bridgewater, Cherilyn Eagar and Mike Lee, all Republicans hoping to take Bennett out either at the state convention or in a primary runoff, tried to entice the tea partiers with three-minute stump speeches near the end of the 90-minute gathering.

Earlier in the day, a crowd of about 300, many waving American flags or holding hand-lettered anti-Obama signs, gathered at the historic Utah County Courthouse in downtown Provo.

"This is America. This is how it all started 250 years ago," said Jim Bennett, a retired band instructor from Spanish Fork (and not a relative of Sen. Bennett).