by Elizabeth A. Marion

Created on: November 09, 2010   Last Updated: November 10, 2010

The Tea Party was a great success in the midterm elections, but not because of all the GOP wins. The Tea Party does not support all candidates who have an "R" next to their name and claim to be interested in listening to what the people have to say. They were a success because of all the wins by Tea Party candidates. Not all Republicans candidates were endorsed by the Tea Party, but many of those that were saw the results on election day. This movement successfully gained momentum by giving voters a way to express their frustrations with Washington and then successfully impacted the elections.

Besides the success in the elections, the Tea Party also changed their image. There will always be those who dislike the Tea Party. The elections probably did not change the minds of the movement's opponents, but it did change the impact of the movement. Time and time again the Tea Party has been described as a group that is manufactured and only tries to stir up fake anger in people to make the President look less popular than he really is. It's been described as a loud minority that will not have an impact on the elections and is not even worth discussing. However, the Tea Party has shown that they are not limited to having rallies across the country and giving people a place to vent their frustrations with the current administration. They followed through on their promises to get out and vote and took their frustrations with them to the ballot box.

The election also gave the Tea Party the opportunity to give a firm rebuttal to the claim that they are nothing but a bunch of racists and they did. Minority candidates like Marco Rubio and Allen West had great support from the Tea Party and that showed in the elections. The accusation that the Tea Party is racist has never been anything close to a strong arguments, or a sane argument at all, and the elections have weakened an already weak argument that the Tea Party's opponents still use quite regularly.

Despite all of its success in the election, the Tea Party did face some failures. The Republicans did regain control of the House, several Tea Party candidates won, and the Tea Party movement did prove that they are a movement that is powerful enough to have a strong impace on elections. However, many of the Tea Party's targets were re-elected. Barbara Boxer, Barney Frank, and even Harry Reid kept their seats, despite being high targets of the Tea Party movement. That doesn't make their impact on elections any less relevant, but it does prove that being a target of the Tea Party is not necessarily a death wish.

The Tea Party will continue to be dismissed and smeared by those who wish they would conveniently disappear, but the results are in and the Tea Party was a success on election day. The movement has proven that they are capable of making a difference and making an impact, not just being loud.

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