The Other Tea Party Convention: Activists Meet In DC

While the first-ever Tea Party convention, planned for next week in Nashville, has caused some in-fighting and ruffled feathers within the movement, another group of Tea Partiers came to Washington, DC this past weekend to do, essentially, what the Nashville convention hopes to provide: exchange ideas and goals for the future. 60 Tea Party organizers from across the country came to DC for the weekend meeting, organized by FreedomWorks, the Dick Armey-led, DC-based conservative grassroots group that has associated itself with the Tea Partiers since their April 15 national coming-out party that saw hundreds of protests and millions of protesters take to the streets for tax day. The organizers came from different local Tea Party groups; FreedomWorks says it has worked with them before and contacted them about coming to DC for the weekend. "We are building a sustainable community of people that believe in freedom 365 days a year," FreedomWorks President and CEO Matt Kibbe said today at a briefing with reporters and about 25 of the activists. Activists said they discussed ideas about the movement and where it will go from here--a future that, from the point of view of activists and FreedomWorks staffers in attendance, will certainly include a heavy role in the 2010 midterm elections...read more