After failing to pull it off the first time, tea partiers say they’re finally ready to party. The Tea Party Nation says this year’s National Tea Party Unity Convention — delayed from its originally-scheduled July 15-17 dates in Las Vegas due to the “heat,” according to organizers at the time — is back on, and back in Vegas.
The convention will be held Oct. 14-16 at the Mirage hotel and casino on the Vegas strip. Other than the giant volcano out front, the hotel is an interesting choice for another reason — as Christina reported over the weekend, the massive Venetian hotel was selected by conservatives gathering for RightOnline because it’s the only non-union hotel on the strip. The employees of the Mirage, like the rest of the hotels around it, are represented by the city’s powerful hospitality unions.
In announcing the new dates today, tea party organizers seemed excited to have a new home for their second national convention, regardless of who may be staffing it.
“The timing for this country is crucial,” the convention website reads. “As we head into the fall elections, we must be united in our opposition to the Obama/Pelosi/Reid axis of fiscal evil.”
As we reported exhaustively the last time the Tea Party Nation hosted a national convention (back in February), the idea is not without controversy in the tea party community. Organizers of the conventions have had no problem cashing in on the movement — and charging big attendance fees to do it. Some tea partiers have accused organizers of taking advantage of the grassroots movement to host what was essentially a very well-covered steak-and-lobster dinner last time.
But coming so close as it does to the midterms, even with the controversy surrounding the conventions among some tea partiers, it’s likely the October convention will be a big draw, both for conservative candidates and the media. Whether it will be packed with the tea party faithful remains to be seen.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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