Northern Virginia Tea Partiers squeezed elbow-to-elbow in a little room in Arlington on Thursday to hear Christine O’Donnell urge them not to give up their fight against what she called the “D.C. cocktail crowd” and the congressional “favor factory.”
“If the D.C. cocktail crowd, if the establishment will lend a hand to us, we will be that powerhouse that knocks out Barack Obama in 2012,” said O’Donnell, who came to national prominence as an unsuccessful Senate candidate in Delaware in 2010.
O’Donnell, who’s pitching a new book, preached a familiar message to the local Tea Partiers — they’ve been hoping to win over or kick out the Democratic “establishment” in Northern Virginia since Day 1. But now, with state Senate primaries looming and a presidential race gaining steam, local Tea Party supporters said they’re changing tactics for how to achieve the “second American Revolution,” moving away from attention-getting rallies and digging in for a fight in local elections.
“We’re looking for constitutional, conservative candidates,” said local Tea Party leader Ron Wilcox. “We’re hoping to flip the state Senate from progressive to conservative.”
Tea Partier and Springfield resident Geraldine Davie, who attended the O’Donnell rally, said she’s working on Republican campaigns for the Fairfax County School Board, Fairfax Board of Supervisors, state Senate and state House of Delegates.
“In Northern Virginia we want a huge showing on the local elections,” she said. “Now we get it; we know what we have to do. As Fairfax goes, so goes the nation.”
O’Donnell’s talk came the day after Jamie Radtke, the Tea Party candidate hoping to take down George Allen for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Virginia, paid a visit to Arlington County Republicans to ask them for their support.
She said she thought the transforming Tea Party would continue to influence state and national politics.
“I think you see the movement maturing,” she said. “I think it will always be about rallies and events, but I think there’s a much greater focus on getting legislation through that you want.”
