FROM ONE NEWS NOW/AFA

Are you a true Tea Partier?


Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 8/12/2010 6:00:00 AM

Organizers say candidates posing as Tea Party supporters are infiltrating elections across the nation. Democrats, they say, are using the success of the conservative moment to divide votes.

From New Jersey to California and Florida -- and states in between, like Michigan -- leaders claim Democrats are planting imposters running under the Tea Party banner. The bogus list of candidates streams through one race after another with candidates Tea Party organizers have never heard of.

While the theories are many, Mark Lloyd -- chairman of the Lynchburg Tea Party of Virginia -- says Democrats are taking advantage of third-party candidates with the growing popularity of the movement's conservative message.

"Nationally I would not put anything past them," he laments. "They're going to do anything they have to do to misdirect, to mislead, or to destroy the Tea Party movement."

Lloyd also contends Democrats are not using one blueprint to infiltrate the various campaigns, but are using different tactics to target races that may be vulnerable.

"And I would say daresay, keep your eyes peeled -- because you're probably going to see more of this kind of activity," he predicts. "The Tea Party movement is new; it's forming at the true grassroots level, so there's not any kind of...direct structure from the top. And sometimes, you know, it takes a while for the safeguards to actually be put in place."

In Florida, Tea Party activists are battling in a court to determine the legitimate Tea Party candidates. Likewise, a Senate candidate -- Scott Ashjian -- was granted permission by a Nevada judge to run under the Tea Party name despite claims that he was not a member of a local Tea Party chapter.