Assorted Tea and "9/12" patriot groups this week called for Libertarian candidate Alex Snitker to quit the U.S. Senate race. The groups reasoned that Snitker would drain votes from Republican Marco Rubio.

Snitker has no plans to pull out, and the state's only officially registered political tea party, the Florida TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party, wants him to stay in.

"Mr. Snitker is a breath of fresh air to the electoral scene and one of three U.S. Senate candidates the official TEA Party is currently vetting for the TEA Party endorsement in November," said party consultant Doug Guetzloe. He cited Rubio, independent Charlie Crist and Snitker as the threesome.

Then Guetzloe, who was expelled from the state Republican Party under disgraced chairman Jim Greer, took a shot at other tea partiers.

"The so-called 'tea party leaders' calling for Mr. Snitker to step aside are nothing more than shills for the corrupt Republican Party of Florida," he said.