November 16, 2010 07:19 PM UTC

Tea Party Not Faring So Well in Congress OR Colorado

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Commenting on Tea Party attacks on fellow Mesa Commissioner Craig Meis, former Lt. Governor and GOP County Commissioner Janet Rowland told The Grand Junction Sentinel this:

Rowland on Monday questioned GJResult’s credibility and representations of tea party ideologies, alleging the group consists of “three to five men sitting around a table smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, deciding who they want to endorse.”

“I don’t put a lot of stock in allegations they make … they don’t hold up,” Rowland said.

There’s just no love to be had anywhere, is there?

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We wrote last week about Tea Party concerns that Republicans would abandon them now that the election is over. Those concerns seem to have been justified, as a couple of recent stories from our friends at the Washington Post’s “The Fix” indicates.

First, there was this story about Tea Party darling Rep. Michelle Bachman on Friday:

Republican establishment 1, tea party 0.

That’s the post-midterm score after tea party darling Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) dropped her candidacy for a spot in the House Republican leadership roughly one week after announcing it…

…Bachmann’s quick exit from the leadership race signals that while the tea party may have seized control from the GOP establishment outside Washington, the powers that be still have, well, power in the halls of Congress.

And with Hensarling’s victory now assured, there won’t be a single challenge to any member of the Republican leadership team – a sign that tea party might not have changed things within the party as much as people thought they had. [Pols emphasis]

As counting continues in the Alaska Senate race, it appears that the Tea Party has a new enemy on the Republican side as well. Again, from “The Fix“:

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski had some harsh criticism for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) during an interview Monday night with CBS’ Katie Couric…

…Murkowski, who pursued a write-in candidacy after losing the Aug. 24 primary, also took a shot at the tea party Monday night, telling Couric that the reason she lost her primary was because she does not “pass the purity test” that the movement has set out. She used bipartisan rhetoric in describing where she falls on the issues.

“I will tell you, I am not one of those who wants Obama to fail,” Murkowski said. “If he does well, that means the country’s doing well. We don’t have time as a nation to spend all of what we do blocking. We have got to figure out how we get to a point where we can be sitting around the table and talking about these difficult problems and advancing some solutions.” [Pols emphasis]

Murkowski appears to have the lead in the Alaska Senate race as write-in ballots continue to be counted. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell apparently told Murkowski that, if she wins, she will retain her seniority as the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. While Murkowski will likely continue to caucus with the Republicans, she’ll be no friend to the Tea Party movement.