Tea Party Victory in NH Signals 2012 Strength

The election of tea party candidate Jack Kimball (pictured) as chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party Saturday shows the tea party remains a potent force. “The energy that activists brought to the mid-terms is now being channeled in a different direction — one that could reshape the 2012 GOP presidential race and require candidates to rethink the traditional approaches to winning the Republican nomination,” Politico reports.

“If anyone thought the tea party movement would fade away after the November elections, content to have played a key role in ousting the ruling Democratic class and splintered by internal divisions, they were mistaken.”

And it’s not just New Hampshire. Two other tea party-backed candidates beat establishment choices to win state GOP chairmanships Saturday — radio talk show host Kirby Wilbur in Washington state and conservative activist Tom Morrissey in Arizona.