Politics | Tea Party Tea Party Fizzles Out at Polls Grassroots movement lacks money, skills to get votes By Jane Yager Posted Mar 8, 2010 7:25 AM CST Copied Patrick Will of Eaton, N.Y., holds an American flag during a tax day tea party rally in Albany, N.Y., Wednesday, April 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) However good the tea party movement may be at organizing rallies, a recent slew of primary defeats for tea party candidates shows the movement still has plenty to learn about translating grass-roots energy into votes. In Texas, Illinois, and New York, tea party-affiliated candidates have been soundly trounced at the polls—and the problem may be a lack of both money and skills. “The movement has more, ‘This is what we believe,’ than, ‘This is what we are going to do about it,’” one defeated candidate told Politico. Tea partiers still need to learn how to communicate with mainstream voters about policy, and they also need far more money than they're currently raising if they hope to launch strong challenges to well-funded incumbents, critics say. Read These Next A game of doorbell ditch turns fatal for 11-year-old. Guy accused of snatching hat from boy at US Open IDed as rich CEO. Iran's leaders ditched their phones. Their bodyguards didn't. It's an unexpected footnote in the life of Buford Pusser. Report an error