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Vegas Hotel: The Tea Party Convention Is Canceled

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 20, 2010, 1:44PM

The Mirage Hotel

According to the Las Vegas hotel that was supposed to play host to the second national tea party convention, the much-hyped event has been canceled. Organizers of the convention haven't returned my calls, but grassroots tea party leaders I talked to today said that they haven't heard a word about the convention in awhile -- and Nevada leaders told me that if the event is canceled, good riddance.

If the convention really is off, the loss of the event will stand as the third high-profile tea party organizing fail in a month. With the election rapidly approaching, the failure of the LibertyXPO in DC this month, the second DC 9/12 rally and now the second convention suggest those that hope to leverage the movement for big, nationally-covered productions may have tapped out the tea party grassroots.

The evidence is certainly mounting that the convention -- which was moved from its original July date to October 14 earlier this year -- is officially not happening. First, Tea Party Nation, the controversial group that many tea partiers reject as a fake, has removed all reference to the event from its website (see a cached version of the page here to get a look at the convention's former prominence on the site.) When I called the Mirage, the hotel where the convention was supposed to take place, the sales office told me the event was canceled last week.

Judson Phillips, Tea Party Nation spokesperson and the organizer of the event, didn't answer his cell phone when I called. Mark Scuda, the Memphis, Tennessee tea party leader who helped organize the first convention in Nashville, told me he's not involved in organizing the Vegas convention and didn't know if it was happening or not.

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Topics: Judson Phillips, National Tea Party Convention, Tea Party, Tea Party Nation, Tea Party Nation Convention

Roundup

TPMDC Saturday Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | February 6, 2010, 8:50AM

Obama Calls For Measures To Help Small Business
In this weekend's YouTube address, President Obama laid out proposals that he said would help small businesses, including the use of money left over from the TARP bailout:

"Because financing remains difficult for good, credit-worthy small businesses across the country, I've proposed that we take $30 billion from the TARP fund originally used for Wall Street and create a new Small Business Lending Fund that will provide capital for community banks on Main Street," said Obama. "These are the small, local banks that will be able to give our small business owners more of the credit they need to stay afloat. We should also continue to waive fees, increase guarantees, and expand the size of SBA-backed loans for small businesses. And yesterday, I proposed making it easier for small business owners to refinance their mortgages during these tough times."

Hensarling: I Agree With What Obama Says -- But Not What He Does
This week's Republican YouTube address was delivered by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), one of the Congressmen who debated with President Obama at the "Question Time" event a week ago. In this video, Hensarling criticizes Obama and the Democrats on spending issues, and opposes the creation of a special commission that would recommend fiscal changes:

"Now, when it comes to budget matters, I usually find myself agreeing with about 80% of what the President says, but I disagree with 80% of what he does," said Hensarling. "While the President's budget rhetoric gives a nod to reducing the deficit, he punts the problem to a 'commission' that does not yet exist, and whose recommendations may never see the light of day. We have to do better." As Christina Bellantoni notes, Hensarling makes no mention of the plan offered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), to privatize Social Security and Medicare.