NV-SEN

Tea Party Express Accuses Nevada 'Tea Party' Candidate: 'We Think You're A Fraud' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | March 29, 2010, 12:48PM

Senate candidate Scott Ashjian (Tea Party-NV)

The Tea Party Express, a division of Our Country Deserves Better PAC, has a new Web ad excoriating "Tea Party" candidate Scott Ashjian in the Nevada Senate race, accusing him of being a Democratic mole trying to help re-elect Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The ad has not been put on television just yet -- but it could be soon.

Ashjian has registered as a candidate with an actual "Tea Party" label for the general election, rather than running in the Republican primary. Right-wing talk radio host and Tea Party Express spokesman Mark Williams tells Ashjian to "get lost." "Dozens of Tea Party groups across Nevada have spoken out against your candidacy," Williams says. "None of us has ever heard of you, or even seen you at a Tea Party rally. Nothing. We think you're a fraud who's trying to split the vote and help re-elect Harry Reid."

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Tea Party

Tea Partiers Hold Festival In Reid's Hometown

Eric Kleefeld | March 29, 2010, 11:58AM

Sarah Palin speaks at the 'Showdown in Searchlight' Tea Party Express rally in Searchlight, NV.

Searchlight, Nevada, is a remote town with only about 700 people -- only really known for being the home town of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). But over the weekend it became the destination of choice for thousands of Tea Party activists, who descended on the town to protest Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Obama, health care reform and the rest of the Democrats' agenda.

The event was a kickoff for a national tour of the "Tea Party Express" bus, a project of the Our Country Deserves Better PAC. The organizers selected the hometown of the Senate Majority Leader to show off their opposition to the Dem agenda. Speakers included Andrew Breitbart, Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher, talk radio host Mark Williams, and Saturday Night Live alumnus Victoria Jackson.

The star attraction, however, was Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president and a huge favorite of conservative activists. Palin slammed Reid for "gambling away our future" -- a topical reference in a gambling-heavy state. "Someone needs to tell him, this is not a crapshoot," Palin added.

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Tea Party Express

Tea Partiers To Hold 'Conservative Woodstock' Event In Harry Reid's Hometown

Eric Kleefeld | March 26, 2010, 2:31PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK)

Tea Party activists are kicking off a grand national tour this weekend with an event targeting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in his small home town of Searchlight, Nevada -- an event that Tea Party Express describes as a "conservative Woodstock."

Tomorrow's "Showdown In Searchlight" event will feature none other than Sarah Palin, campaigning against the Senate Dem leader. A press release from Tea Party Express boasts of supporters arriving to camp out: "It doesn't get closer to a 'Conservative Woodstock' than this."

So what do they mean by a "conservative Woodstock?" "I guess the uniqueness of having a huge number of people descend on a place where they otherwise wouldn't be going," Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell told TPMDC. "Searchlight is not a destination by any means. It's a tiny town. And the locals have told us this is already by far the biggest thing that's happened in their town's history. That's how we see it, a huge number of people coming to a unique place where the draw is, we are going to put on this show and this rally."

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NV-SEN

Nevada Tea Battle: Grassroots Groups Call New Third Party Fake, Ban It From Events

Christina Bellantoni | March 15, 2010, 9:48AM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and a tea partier

Is there a fake tea party brewing in Nevada? Tea partiers who have declared Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) public enemy No. 1 sure seem to think so.

The Tea Party of Nevada formed an official third party in the Silver State, with candidate Jon Ashjian hoping to defeat Reid. But tea party groups that oppose becoming official third parties cried foul. Some conservatives have even accused Ashjian of being a front for Reid supporters who hope to dilute the Republican and tea party votes in the fall.

Twenty of Nevada's self-proclaimed "grassroots tea party groups" signed a statement denouncing the Tea Party of Nevada. The groups issued a blanket ban, saying the third party won't be invited to or welcome at any grassroots events in the state.

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Tea Party

Tea Party's First Birthday Highlights Divisions In Movement

Christina Bellantoni | March 1, 2010, 2:25PM

Dick Armey of FreedomWorks speaks with a tea party enthusiast

The tea party movement officially turned one over the weekend, drawing various celebrations, laudatory statements from Republican leadership and boastful emails about all the group has accomplished since 2009. But even those anniversary milestones highlight deep factions within the movement and how Republicans are bending over backwards to be associated with the tea partiers.

For example, the Tea Party Express organizers cited several odd accomplishments, including a political race that ended up with a Democratic victory and a Senator's retirement that had nothing to do with the tea party at all.

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