TEA Party factions in Tennessee bear differing agendas

The conservative Taxed Enough Already (TEA) political movement sweeping through Tennessee is hardly a consolidated front. On one side, there's The Memphis TEA Party (TheMemphisTEAParty.com); on the other, is The Mid-South Tea Party (MidSouthTEAParty.org). For The Memphis TEA Party, the TEA Party Nation extravaganza convening early next month in Nashville -- featuring former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. -- is a way to energize the conservative base of the Republican Party. It's also an opportunity to make it accountable, says Charlotte Bergmann, The Memphis TEA Party candidate for the 9th Congressional District. Its 600 attendees are paying $549 a piece for the privilege. But for Mid-South TEA Party activists such as James Tomasik of Cordova, the national convention in Nashville is "just one of those Republican Party things where they're trying to ride the TEA Party wave." He calls his local group a mix of Democrats, Republicans and independents, with an emphasis on independence...read more