Tea Party Poised to Have a Lot of Influence in Next Congress

They may not win a lot of seats, but a Tea Party caucus could be very influential in keeping the Republicans on the right track:

Enough Tea Party-supported candidates are running strongly in competitive and Republican-leaning Congressional races that the movement stands a good chance of establishing a sizeable caucus to push its agenda in the House and the Senate, according to a New York Times analysis.

With a little more than two weeks till Election Day, 33 Tea Party-backed candidates are in tossup races or running in House districts that are solidly or leaning Republican, and 8 stand a good or better chance of winning Senate seats.

While the numbers are relatively small, they could exert outsize influence, putting pressure on Republican leaders to carry out promises to significantly cut spending and taxes, to repeal health care legislation and financial regulations passed this year, and to phase out Social Security and Medicare in favor of personal savings accounts.

That's the whole idea. Just as the Blue Dogs helped keep the Dems from going completely off the tracks (though they often caved on the big votes) the Tea Party candidates can keep the GOP from falling into their old RINO ways.  I don't think you'll see Tea Party supporters falling in line behind the GOP leadership in the same manner the Blue Dogs did the Democrat leadership.  The GOP will have to listen to the Tea Party people or risk losing their votes.