Tea Party convention raises questions about movement's future
A spat between organizers of the national Tea Party convention, which starts Thursday in Nashville and will feature Sarah Palin as its keynote speaker, has largely centered on fees, speakers and profits.
Those were among the concerns cited by two key conservative lawmakers, Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Minnesota Rep. Michele Backmann, as they pulled out of the event last week. They echoed similar complaints other grass-roots Tea Party supporters have been making for weeks.
But at the core of the division lies a more fundamental question of where the Tea Party should go from here and what it's really all about.
Supporters of the convention to be held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center say the national conference will build alliances across state lines, strengthening into a force that can press the Democratic and Republican parties to change their ways or face a threat to their existence.
The convention's opponents, however, believe the event threatens to ruin the movement. They say their disjointed, grass-roots uprising is being turned into a top-down organization that will be co-opted by the major parties.
Which side wins could determine how the Tea Party phenomenon plays out, and the national convention in Nashville could be a turning point in the movement.
“One side is trying to build an organization,” said Marcus Pohlmann, a professor of political science at Rhodes College in Memphis. “The other wants a protest movement. There are reasons for both.”Dispute draws attention
The participants in this dispute have mainly been Tennesseans, but the disagreement has received attention far beyond the state. National media outlets from The New York Times to Fox News have carried stories on the event, and organizers say they have received requests for credentials from as far away as Eastern Europe.
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