Comments about ‘The tea party is here to stay in Utah's political races’

The day fo the RINO Republican holding ofice in Utah has come to an end!

The Tea Party is for real.....and is surely going to have something to say to those RINOS in the Senate and House who voted for HB 166 advocated by the DamnestyNews and the LDS Church......

start packing RINOS, you're Gone in 2012 and 2014......Bramble has a target as do many others

The caucus/convention system is not about delegates keeping power. This last cycle, over half of all GOP State delegates were serving for the first time. 5,000 GOP State delegates, elected in neighborhood caucus meetings are not a bunch of elite insiders. They are, truly, a representative voice of the community, or at least of the involved republicans.

The caucus/convention system mutes the benefits of big money, name recognition, and incumbency. It reduces the power of party insiders and media elite.

Anyone willing to devote some time can get his message out to the delegates. He needs only modest resources to do so.

The convention process is a great way for the GOP to winnow its candidates down to a nominee to represent the party.

Those who don't like GOP nominees should either get involved as delegates, or, be involved in another party, or simply encourage their favored candidate to run as an independent without party affiliation or support.

No party is required to use caucus/convention. But every party is entitled to do so if it so chooses.

Rarely do we hear the true majority complain. It is most often the minority view.

Rep. Vickers is a good man. I wish Senator Casey Anderson the best.

@considering it is 3500 state GOP delegates not 5000, but you are right that there were between 60,000 and 80,000 people show up to the caucus system to elect them.

The caucus system is the best way to make sure grass roots movements can work over large amounts of money. It is the only way someone with $100,000 can go against someone with $2,000,000 in election funds.

Most people that want the caucus system changed, there are exceptions, are frustrated that they don't have as much power as people that show up to the caucus meetings. It doesn't take money, you just have to show up.

What we need are more people getting involved earlier, not shutting down the system that protects us from power hungry people wanting to take over.

I'm sure in Utah the Tea-Party is not going to go away. What I don't know is if the GOP is going to survive in it's current form. What I wonder is if this is going to be good for the Democrats. What I hope is this will awaken the average citizen. What I pray for is this bringing more balance to our state government. Why, because I don't think the Tea-Party is the answer.

The Tea Party IS MAINSTREAM America!! What I still can't fathom after so much time and so much effort by everyday, common sense Americans is why the political status quo can't or won't acknowledge what is clearly before them. The Tea Party, no matter where it shows up, at rallies, in Caucus meetings, at town-halls IS the MAJORITY of the sleeping public who have for far too many years allowed the establishment to be our voice. The power elites in both parties don't recognize the voice of "We the People". We are NOT extremists, no matter how hard you try to paint us with that brush. We are your neighbors, your grocery store clerks, your bank tellers, mailman, police officers, housewives, computer programmers. We are the Tea Party, hear us roar!

@instereo: the average citizen did wake up and they are the tea party. the average citizen said enough of the business as usual of spend and tax.

the average citizen spoke in Nov 10 and will make their voices heard in Nov 12.

@PattyD: excellent comments and I couldn't agree more!!

The Tea Party has leveraged a crisis, co-opted a few good ideas that have been around forever, and with a few slighly aaskew passionate people, they have been able to hi-jack the Republican Party and make some crazy radical changes in the National Political Landscape. It's truly amazing.

They bewilder the left -- nobody can figure out how so few extremests have been able to bully themselves into such positions of power. And they scare the right to death -- nobody can figure out how to counter their super-psycho policies without comiting political hara-kiri.

The Tea Party really reminds me of a virus that was designed to cure cancer and ends up becoming a mutated plague that kills every living thing in America. Let us hope it doesn't come to that. There are some great ideas and enthusiasm in the party.

If they could just back off their pedal-to-the-metal stance on a few things, and sit back and reason with their friends and coleages a bit, I think we have a chance to do some great things in Utah and Nationally. But if they run roughshod, America could be in real danger.