The Tipping Point Part 2

Despite more Americans calling themselves conservative, the Republican Party has yet to capitalize on this seismic shift beneath their feet. The momentum behind this realignment is due, in part, to a very large number of independent voters who, having married the dreamy Obama candidate now find themselves seeking an annulment from the progressively insane presidential Obama. What the pundits found so cataclysmic last year, a demonstrable shift from center-right to center-left, was entirely ethereal.

However there is a very real battle now for the hearts and souls of the conservative minded. Just last week, Sarah Palin endorsed the Conservative Party's candidate Doug Hoffman, over his Republican rival and Democrat challenger in a special election for a congressional seat in New York. Now I know why Palin titled her new book Going Rogue. The GOP, along with notables like Newt Gingrich, endorsed the Republican Party candidate. Look for figures like Palin, Ron Paul, or Mike Huckabee, and even television personalities like Mr. Independent Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck to position themselves as national leaders for this emergent crowd. Despite the outcome of next weeks election, Mr. Hoffman will not be the last tea party or grass roots newbie to challenge rino (Republican in name only) Republicans in their own neighborhoods.

The tea party people and other grass roots organizers, the ones that fueled last spring's tax protests and this summer's town hall meetings, are looking for leaders who share their frustrations and conservative values and who will adopt their agenda of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and personal liberty. But, just as they can sense a rino in their midst, they also have a nose for "instant" tea party posers who often glom onto the enthusiastic crowds for their own glory.