Recent generic Congressional poll numbers by Rasmussen and Gallup both show that the GOP leading the Democrats by several percentage points. Independent voters – the ones who put Obama over the top last year – are swinging back to the right. In the recent gubernatorial election in Virginia, the independent voters broke 2 to 1 for the Republican, while in the New Jersey race, the numbers were even higher.

Even more interesting, when Rasmussen added the possibility of a “Tea Party” candidate, the D’s support falls by 3%, but the Republicans drop to only 18% of the vote, while the “Tea Party” captures 23% of the generic vote. That should be a wake-up call to the GOP. There are many within the Republican party, both locally and nationally, who continue to dismiss the tea party movement. They join the Democrats in calling them fringe, kooky and worse.

What they are not doing is paying attention. Many more Americans identify themselves as “conservative” vs “liberal“, but more claim to be Democrat than Republican. In fact, nearly half of the people who call themselves conservative do NOT identify with the Republican party. According to Rasmussen, “this means that Republicans looking to broaden their party’s outreach cannot ignore the need to attract a large number of conservative voters.”

An article in “Newsmax” pointed out that:

Republican Party leaders should be embarrassed. Instead, the Republican establishment disdains this populist uprising. Instead of embracing this genuine movement, establishment politicians and consultants are calculating how to co-opt, sideline or even defeat the newest phenomenon in politics: tea partyers.

That would be arrogance, not leadership. It could be the downfall of Republican leaders, who have taken the Party of Reagan to the Party of No — meaning: No Ideas, No Leadership, and No Principles.

The tea party movement is more than just holding rallies, or even in getting new people elected. It’s about a return to Constitutional government – and tossing the “politics as usual” good old boys, plenty of whom belong to the Republican party. It’s about using the Constitution to form policy choices, to hold the political establishment accountable, and to demand a return to the checks and balances the Constitution established.

We are seeing the highly adaptable tea party movement run candidates in both Democratic and Republican primaries. When they are shut out by the party establishments, as happened in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, they are running as independents, or under third parties.

Tea partiers are learning how to organize, raise money, and use the alternative media in record numbers. They are voicing their opposition to unaccountable big government, and promoting productive policy alternatives, through the guiding principles of the Founders.

We are seeing new leaders emerge from the tea parties, the grass roots, and “new” media. Like our Founders, they understand their strength of leadership does not come from a political party, but from consent of the governed. That is why they don’t hitch their wagons to one person or one party.

Being “leaderless” – far from being a fault – has been beneficial to the tea party movement. “The Starfish and the Spider” is a book dedicated to the “unstoppable power of leaderless organizations”. The author points out that if you cut the head off a spider, it dies. If you cut the leg off a starfish, it just grows a new one. It adapts. It changes. It adapts.  And it not only survives, it thrives.  The tea party movement is here to stay.  In fact, the first national tea party convention will be held in February, headlined by Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann.

Republican Party leaders would be unwise to try to co-opt, sideline or defeat it. Perhaps they should welcome the new leadership into the party as their single most important survival tactic.

Sunday’s “San Francisco Chronicle” ran an article about the tea party movement gearing up for the 2010 elections. The California GOP Chief Operating Officer is someone in the GOP who “gets it”. He said in the article: “If we were arrogant and assumed they were with us, that could be deadly. We are ready to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them.”

In a previous blog, I wrote:

Chairman Steele has made a fundamental mistake if he assumes that the “empowerment of the grassroots”, the tea parties, the 9-12 groups and all the people who are now “awake” means voters are flowing to the Republican party. In many cases – most, even – those folks are just as disenchanted with the Republican party as they are with the Democrats. Why? Because too many in the Republican party do not stand on principle! Too many are not willing to lose because they take a stand – they seem far too busy protecting their own personal interests.

Utah had some strong voices for the tea party movement within the GOP – Congressman Jason Chaffetz, state party vice-chair Morgan Philpot, state representatives and senators like Ken Sumsion, Craig Frank, Ryan Wilcox, Wayne Neiderhauser and many more.  The Republican party at large would do well to learn from them.