Tea Party Influence in 2010 and beyond

In recent classes, we've been discussing the influence of the Tea Party in 2010.

Many pundits, as well as members our class were very curious to see how well the Tea Party would perform in the elections. The results? Mixed. Below are some of the losses of key races for the Tea Party:

Nevada: Sharon Angle lost to Harry Reid
Delaware: Christine O'Donnell lost to Chris Coons
Colorado: Ken Buck lost to Michael Bennet
Alaska: Joe Miller lost to Lisa Murkowski
West Virginia: John Raese lost to Joe Manchin

Despite these losses, the Tea Party did have some success on the election night. Below is a list:

Kentucky: Rand Paul defeats Jack Conway
Florida: Marco Rubio defeats Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek
Pennsylvania: Pat Toomey defeats Joe Sestak

Despite these wins, you can argue that Kentucky, Florida, and Pennsylvania were winnable for Republicans anyways.

With all this in mind, let's look at how Sarah Palin's endorsements went. In 2010, she made 64 endorsements total, with the majority of those endorsements going to Tea Party candidates. Of her 64 endorsements, 20 candidates lost and 33 won. While her endorsement seemed to help Senate and Gubernatorial candidates, it was less effective on the Congressional level.

In the 32 endorsements that she made for the U.S. House of Representatives, 19 candidates lost, and 13 won. For a more in-dept analysis of Sarah Palin's contribution to 2010 politics, click here.

It remains to be seen what will happen with the Tea Party. Several Republican winners, including two in Virginia, have announced that they will not join the Tea Party caucus, even after winning with Tea Party support.

With a platform of less spending and less government, it will be interesting to see how the Tea Party can govern and work with a Democratic Executive Branch. Will we have two years of the parties working together, or two years of road blocks?

Also - what about the Tea Party influence in 2012? It is very obvious that Palin is still very popular among the more conservative wing of the GOP. With mixed results for the Tea Party in 2010, I'd say its hard to predict what will become of the Tea Party and Sarah Palin in 2012.