Tea party rally in OrlandoMitt Romney ran away with the Florida presidential primary. Newt Gingrich, despite an endorsement from a late-blooming tea party coalition, finished 14 points behind.
Romney's winner-take-all victory only netted him 50 convention delegates because the state's allotment was halved as punishment for jumping the primary schedule. But Gingrich's defeat was a serious blow to tea party activists in search of the "anti-Romney."
It also called into question the clout and cohesiveness of the tea party movement itself. And that could spell trouble for the GOP's chances this fall.
"We've boxed ourselves into a corner. We don't have the majority or the strength or the depth to take on presidential politics," said Henry Kelley, president of the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party.
"The Tea Party Coalition for Newt was damaging to the reputation of the tea party. We shouldn't be in the endorsement business," said Kelley, who declined to say for whom he voted on Tuesday.
Patricia Sullivan, head of the Tea Party Network and one of more than 30 state tea leaders who signed on to the coalition, said Tuesday night's result in Florida should be a wake-up call for tea partiers everywhere.
"There are many states that will look to our fracture and learn from it. We've split the tea party vote here with most going to Gingrich, several going to Rick Santorum and some going to Ron Paul.
"If what the media is predicting does come true, I believe other states will see the writing on the wall and unite against Romney," Sullivan said.
With Romney on a roll, Andrew Nappi sees the two-year-old tea party movement unraveling.
"I felt the GOP was going to co-opt the tea parties in Florida. Two years ago, they were carrying signs that said 'End the Fed' and 'Restore the Constitution, Bring Back Limited Government.' Then you get to presidential elections and you see support for people who never upheld those ideas," said Nappi, Florida director of the libertarian-leaning Tenth Amendment Center.
"Gingrich supported the Department of Education and global warming. Romney is a big-government guy. What happened to that fervor of 2009? Where did it go?
"Right now, it looks like they're backing the person they feel can win and saying, 'We'll worry about principles later,'" Nappi said.
Exit polls by CNN showed that 62 percent of Florida voters said they supported the tea party movement. Another survey indicated that 40 percent of self-identified tea partiers voted for Romney.
Tea leaders interviewed by Sunshine State News were split on where the presidential race and the tea party movement head now.
Steve Vernon, vice president of Tea Party Manatee and a signatory of the Gingrich coalition, said, "Personally, I think the fight will continue against Romney, especially since he didn't get over 50 percent. I think Santorum will do better than people expect."
Tom Tillison, an Orlando-based tea activist and blogger who signed on to the coalition, said, "Should Romney be the eventual GOP nominee, the concern is that this is John McCain all over again, just wrapped in a prettier package. There just isn't a lot of confidence among tea partiers that he will defeat Barack Obama."
Sharon Calvert, a Tampa Tea Party co-founder who also signed on to the coalition for Gingrich, said, "We want this [race] to continue, to keep the conversation going, to keep the target away from Obama."
But she acknowledged that Romney "is on his way" with his double-digit victory.
"Whoever gets nomination, we'll back. We cannot afford four more years of Obama. I will do everything to get him out ... even after all the bad things Romney said about Gingrich," Calvert said.
Kelley said he was unsure Tuesday night when, or if, Romney will get tea party faithful fully in his camp.
The splintering of Florida's tea activists reminded Kelley of the GOP's internecine warfare in the 2010 gubernatorial primary pitting Bill McCollum and Rick Scott. (In an ironic and revealing twist this time around, McCollum, a former congressman, served as state chair for the "anti-establishment" Gingrich while Scott remained on the sidelines.)
"My concern is that Paul and Gingrich won't support Romney," Kelley said. "I don't see how this comes back together in a few months."
Other tea partiers relished the prospect that Gingrich will fight on. They note, for example, that the 50 delegates Romney won in Florida will be surpassed by the 76 delegates Georgia could award to its former congressman.
"I think the 46 states that have yet to chime in may want to participate in the primary," Sullivan observed. "We all know another moderate for the GOP nominee is another GOP defeat come November."
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.