Tea Party Shows Strength - Florida's Congressional Races Are Set

Some races look tight; most incumbents safe

Friday marked the deadline for federal candidates to make the November ballot. While there are some competitive races, most of the congressional incumbents appear safe. Some of them have not even drawn an opponent from the other major party.

CD 1: While Jim Bryan, the Democratic candidate from 2008, wanted to make another run at incumbent Republican Jeff Miller, he does not have ballot status and will run as a write-in candidate. John Krasue, a pastor and private investigator, will continue his conservative challenge to Miller on the ballot with no party affiliation. So will Joe Cantrell.

CD 2: Congressman Allen Boyd will face a primary challenger from Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson of Tallahassee, for the Democratic nomination. Boyd’s Republican opponent from 2008, Eddie Hendry, is running again. Hendry will face Ron McNeil, attorney and former professional tennis player Barbara Olschner, pilot David Scholl and funeral home owner Steve Southerland for the Republican nomination. Charlie Ransom, a former assistant attorney general and legislative staffer, dropped out of the race on April 30. Conservative retired firefighter Paul McKain will continue his campaign with no party affiliation. Conservative activist and accountant Dianne Berryhill has pulled out of the Republican field and will also continue without party affiliation. Health administrator Ray Netherwood is running as a write-in candidate.

CD 3: Incumbent Congresswoman Corrine Brown will face a challenge from attorney Scott Fortune for the Democratic nomination. Businessman Dean Black, who used to host a radio show, will face businessman Mike Yost and Duval County Young Republicans President Chris Nwaskie for the Republican nomination. Realtor Terry Martin-Back is running with no party affiliation.

CD 4: Republican Congressman Ander Crenshaw will face a challenge from the right as conservative activist and Navy vet Troy Stanley has made the ballot with no party affiliation. Deb Katz Pueschel, who ran against Crenshaw in the Republican primary back in 2008, and author Gary Koniz are running as write-in candidates. There is no Democratic candidate.

CD 5: With Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite suddenly retiring on Friday due to health concerns, Hernando County Sheriff Rich Nugent is the favorite of the Republican establishment over conservative activist Jason Sager. Army veteran and small business consultant Jim Piccillo is the only Democrat in the race.

CD 6: Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns has avoided having a Democratic opponent, though 2008 nominee Tim Cunha had considered running again. Stearns faces former Winter Springs City Councilman Don Browning for the Republican nomination. The winner will face Dr. Steve Schonberg, a physician who served in the Navy and practices law. Schonberg, a campaign finance reform activist, is running without party affiliation.

CD 7: Republican John Mica will look to defend his congressional seat against Democratic challenger Heather Beaven, a Navy veteran from Flagler County. Economist Faye Armitage, who had run against Mica in 2008, is not in the race despite speculation she would make another attempt.

CD 8: Democrat Alan Grayson looks to defend his congressional seat against one of a host of Republican challengers. While there was talk that Grayson would be challenged in the primary by teacher Jim Holcomb, Grayson is the only Democrat in the race. While former state senator and House Speaker Daniel Webster, Rep. Kurt Kelly, R-Ocala, and businessman Bruce O'Donoghue are the favorites, the Republican field also contains business owner Ross Bieling, Navy vet Dan Fanelli, attorney Todd Long who ran for the seat in 2008 and tea party activist Patricia Sullivan. Entrepreneur Peg Dunmire is running as the Tea Party candidate. Steve Gerritzen is running as a write-in candidate.

C.D. 9: While there was talk that former Tampa mayoral candidate Arthur Richardson would challenge incumbent Congressman Gus Bilirakis in the primary, Bilirakis is the only Republican in the race. League of United Latin American Citizens activist Anita de Palma takes on Phil Hindahl for the Democratic nomination.

C.D. 10: Veteran Republican Congressman Bill Young faces Charlie Justice, a Democratic state senator from St. Petersburg, and write in candidate Martin Rokicki.

C.D. 11: Congresswoman Kathy Castor faces a challenge from Marine vet and tea party activist Tim Curtis for the Democratic nomination. Architect Eddie Adams, who had the Republican nomination in 2006 and 2008, is running again. Standing in his way are consultant Tony Buntyn, contractor and Vietnam vet Thomas Catellano and Mike Prendergrast, a veteran of the Army and former aide to Bob Graham.

C.D. 12: With Adam Putnam leaving Congress to run for state agriculture and consumer services commissioner, Dennis Ross, a former state representative, will battle it out with tea party activist John Lindsey for the Republican nomination. Polk County Elections supervisor Lori Edwards will duke it out with Douglas Tudor, who ran against Putnam in 2008, for the Democratic nod. Looking for a third party candidate to make a serious impact? Keep an eye on conservative Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson who is running on the Tea Party line.

C.D. 13: Just like 2008, Congressman Vern Buchanan will face off once again against fire alarm contractor Don Baldauf for the Republican nomination. Businessman Rick Eaton and former Bradenton City Councilman James Golden-both veterans of the armed forces-will fight it out for the Democratic nomination. Jan Schneider is running with no party affiliation.

C.D. 14: Republican Congressman Connie Mack will face Democrat James Roach, a consultant who served in Vietnam, and real estate developer William Maverick St. Claire who is running with no party affiliation.

C.D. 15: Republican Bill Posey is hoping to defend his congressional seat against retired NASA official and Cape Canaveral City Councilwoman Shannon Roberts.

C.D. 16: While former Congressman Tim Mahoney decided not to pursue a rematch, there are two Democrats looking to take on Republican Congressman Tom Rooney. Army veteran Jim Horn, currently working as a business consultant, takes on Ed Tautiva, a middle school teacher, for the Democratic nomination. William Dean is running as a write-in candidate.

C.D. 17: Some of the candidates for the seat that Congressman Kendrick Meek is vacating to run for Senate predicted that the field would clear out once the filing process was complete. While realtor Leroy Adam, a Democrat, and teacher Corey Poitier, the only Republican who expressed serious interest in the race, are gone, there is still a crowd of candidates battling it out for the seat. Physician and businessman Rudy Moise has set up an impressive campaign operation and has fair outraised other candidates in the field. A host of legislators stand in Moise’s path to the Democratic nomination, including Sen. Frederica Wilson, Rep. Yolly Roberson and former Rep. Phillip Brutus (who was once married to Roberson). Rep. James Bush has filed for the race. Also in the field are local office holders and activists including Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson, Miami Gardens Councilman Andre Williams, North Miami Councilman Scott Galvin and Haitian-American activist Marleine Bastien. Attorney Roderick Vereen left the Democratic field and will continue running with no party affiliation.

C.D. 18: While there were rumors that Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen would face no opposition, she has drawn a Democratic challenger in Rolando Banciella.

C.D. 19: Newly elected Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch will take on Joe Budd who lost out to Ed Lynch in the Republican nomination for the special election earlier this year. While there were rumors that Lynch wanted a rematch with Deutch, he decided to forego it. Stan Smilian is running as a write-in candidate.

C.D. 20: Three Republicans will be battling to take on Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Restaurant owner Karen Harrington, Broward County businessman Robert Lowry and local activist Donna Milo are all running in the Republican primary. Gay rights activist Bob Kunst, who has made several attempts for various offices over the years, is running with no party affiliation, blasting Wasserman-Schultz and the Obama administration for abandoning Israel. Stanley Blumenthal is also running with no party affiliation. IT Consultant Clayton Schock is running as a write-in candidate.

C.D. 21: Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart jumped from the 25th C.D. to the 21st, saying the seat his brother Lincoln was vacating was safer for a Republican. Apparently it is. Mario Diaz-Balart is the only candidate for the seat despite talk that attorney William Sanchez would challenge him as a Democrat.

C.D. 22: Democratic Congressman Ron Klein is facing challenges on two fronts. Air Force Vet Paul Renneisen is back to one again challenge Klein in the primary. Retired Army officer Allen West, who lost to Klein in 2008, wants a rematch but he has to get by David Brady first for the Republican nomination.

C.D. 23: Long time Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings has a Republican challenger in Bernard Sansaricq, who once served in the Haitian Senate.

C.D. 24: Like her fellow Florida Democrat Klein, Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas faces opponents inside and outside her party. Former Winter Springs Mayor Paul Partyka will challenge Kosmas in the Democratic primary. Former Ruth's Chris CEO Craig Miller, Winter Park City Commissioner Karen Diebel and Rep. Sandy Adams are leading the crowded field for the Republican nomination with Navy vet Tom Garcia and attorney Deon Long trailing. Nicholas Ruiz is running as a write-in candidate.

C.D. 25: This is the seat that Mario Diaz-Balart vacated. Rep. David Rivera chased away some potential foes for the Republican nomination by his impressive fundraising. But he has not cleared the field. Attorney Marli Cancio, who had considered running as an independent, and Marine Corps vet and professor Paul Crespo stand in Rivera’s way for the Republican nod. Obama appointee Joe Garcia, who once chaired the Miami-Dade Democrats and ran for the seat in 2008, faces Luis Meurice for the Democratic nod. Roly Arrojo is running as the Tea Party candidate, while Craig Porter is the first Floridan to run for office on the Whig line since the 1850s.

First elected official from the Tea Party

Meet the first elected official from the Tea Party.

The newly created Florida Tea Party announced Friday it is nominating Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson in the race for retiring Rep. Adam Putnam's (R-Fla.) seat.

The party announced, and it appears to be the case, that Wilkinson is the first elected official from the Tea Party in the United States. Florida recently became the first state to actually have a Tea Party as a political party. Some (lower-case 't') tea party activists have bristled at the formation of the a political party bearing that name in the Sunshine State, but the party's founders have pushed forward with endorsing a slate of candidates.

Wilkinson dropped out of the GOP primary against state Rep. Dennis Ross this week when the party offered him its nomination. He hasn't raised much money (about $27,000 by the end of March), but even if he only stole a few percentage points in the general election, he could play spoiler for Ross in his campaign against Polk County Elections Supervisor Lori Edwards. Democrats have made the seat a top target this year.

Wilkinson said he sees a path running to the right of both candidates.

"I’d say both of those candidates are pretty well moderate," Wilkinson told The Hill. "Dennis is to the left of Putnam. Putnam was a little to the left of (former Rep. Charles) Canady (R-Fla.). We keep moving towards a mushy middle."

Putnam is running for state Agriculture Commissioner.

Polk Commissioner Randy Wilkinson Leaves GOP for Tea Party

LAKELAND | Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson made it a three-party race Friday for the U.S. House of Representatives District 12 seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow.

Related Links:
• Dennis Ross Submits Petitions to Qualify for U.S. House Seat
• Associated Industries of Florida Endorses Republican Dennis Ross For Congress
• Conservative Democrats Give Endorsement

Wilkinson, elected to the commission as a Republican, is running for Congress as a member of the Tea Party. On his campaign documents, the Bartow resident said he is a member of that party and not a registered member of any other party.

Wilkinson will not be on the Aug. 24 primary ballot but will be on the general ballot in November with the winners of the Republican and Democratic primaries.

Filing day took another unexpected turn when incumbent U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, announced she isn't running for re-election to the District 5 seat because of health problems. That district includes part of northern Polk County.

In the race to replace Putnam in District 12, Wilkinson joins two other well-known local political figures - Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards and former state Rep. Dennis A. Ross. Both face opposition in their respective parties.

Ross, of Lakeland, a Republican, is being challenged by first-time political candidate John W. Lindsey Jr., a Winter Haven Republican and business development manager for Flowers Chemical Laboratories in Altamonte Springs.

Edwards, a Democrat whose qualifying form lists an Eagle Lake post office box, is competing in that party's primary against Doug Tudor, a Riverview Democrat. Tudor ran unsuccessfully against Putnam in 2008.

Ross qualified by getting signatures on a petition. The other four paid the $10,440 qualifying fee.

Polk County comprises 65 percent of District 12, which also includes parts of Hillsborough and Osceola counties.

In the 5th Congressional District, the St. Petersburg Times reported Brown-Waite is supporting Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent. Nugent qualified Friday by paying the filing fee. The other Republican in that race is Jason Sager of Brooksville.

Sager and Brown-Waite had qualified by collecting enough petition signatures.

The sole Democrat listed as qualifying for District 5 is James "Jim" Piccillo, who has a Lutz mailing address. He paid a qualifying fee.

District 5 includes all of Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties and parts of Polk, Lake, Levy, Marion and Pasco counties.

Polk also votes for a third congressional seat, District 15, which includes the northeastern corner of the county. The incumbent there, U.S. Rep. Bill Posey of Brevard County, is a Republican. He has qualified to run for re-election. His opponent will be Shannon Roberts, a Brevard County Democrat.

Roberts paid a qualifying fee. Posey qualified by collecting signatures.

FL: Tea Party Candidate to Run for Congress

BARTOW - The newly created Florida Tea Party has its first candidate.

Longtime Republican Randy Wilkinson is running to fill the congressional seat being vacated by Adam Putnam. Putnam is leaving for a run as Florida's agriculture commissioner.

Wilkinson says he left the Republican Party because it lost sight of its focus on limited government.

"The pro-bailout crowed and big insurance interests have rallied around the establishment Republican and Democrat candidates," Wilkinson proclaimed at a Monday press conference. "These special interests on both sides of the aisle have one thing in common -- preservation of the status quo."

Wilkinson will run against the Republican and Democratic candidates for the District 12 seat, which covers parts of Polk, Hillsborough, and Osceola counties.

FL: Tea Party Candidate to Run for Congress

Incumbent Polk County County Commissioner, the Honorable Randy Wilkinson today accepted the TEA PARTY nomination for the United States Congress, District 12. Wilkinson has been elected to one term on the Polk County School Board and three consecutive terms to the Polk County Commission.

Wilkinson has won four elections to public office. All races were county-wide in Polk County; Florida’s ninth most populous county out of 67 counties. "We are very pleased to nominate Commissioner Wilkinson for this open Congressional seat and we anticipate that he will join Peg Dunmire in the United States Congress on November 2," stated TEA PARTY Chairman Fred O’Neal. Dunmire is the TEA PARTY nominee for the US Congress, District 8 and Miami businessman Roly Arrojo is the TEA PARTY nominee for the US Congress in District 24. Wilkinson also becomes the first TEA PARTY elected official in Florida and the nation.

Wilkinson has attended many tea party events over the past year and has been a guest speaker at Tea Party rallies. The Tea Party (TEA) released its financial records for the last quarter. To date, the TEA PARTY has raised a grand total of $110,453.96. That total includes both in-kind and cash donations. Cash on hand for the TEA PARTY is in excess of $20,000. To date over 200 individuals have contributed to the TEA PARTY, with over half of those donors in April (not included in the report ending March 31, 2010).

Some notable TEA PARTY contributors include: Larry Guest (former Sentinel columnist): The Honorable Frank Messersmith (former Republican State House Leader); Richard Lee (son of the legendary milk dairy farm owner-TG Lee); The Honorable Rod Reynolds (former Winter Garden City Commissioner); The Honorable Carol Nichols (former Winter Garden City Commissioner) and Charles Klein, the former State Chairman of the Veterans Party (Florida).

The TEA PARTY is an official political party in the State of Florida and is authorized by the Secretary of State to file TEA PARTY candidates in the November 2010 general election. The official ballot designation is TEA which will follow the name of each TEA candidate. The TEA PARTY is the first in the nation to obtain new party status. Fifteen other states are in the process of establishing TEA PARTY political parties in their respective states. The most recent political TEA PARTY to organize is the New York TEA PARTY which is being organized by Michael Caputo, the political consultant to Everett Wilkinson of the South Florida Tea Party organization and a prominent tea party leader.

More information can be obtained at the following website:
www.ElectRandy.com

Wilkinson leaves GOP, will run for Congress as Tea Party candidate

BARTOW - Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson announced Friday that he has cut his political ties with the Republican Party and has aligned himself with the new Florida Tea Party in his run for U.S. Congress.

Wilkinson has served on the Polk County School Board and the County Commission as a Republican, and when he originally announced his candidacy for Congress last year, he did it under the banner of the GOP.

But he said that changed Thursday when he switched party affiliation.

"I'm fed up with the Republicans and the Democrats because we have a casino government in which the house always wins," Wilkinson said. "And the economy is always the one that gets pillaged."

Wilkinson said he's tired of the "games being played by both parties." He described all the politicians representing those parties are being "posers."

He said he intends to capture the U.S. House seat being given up by Congressman Adam Putnam and "clean house" along with other new members of Congress.

"(Former President Ronald) Reagan won me over as a Republican, but I haven't been happy since then," Wilkinson said. "Now it's everyone for themselves and the middle class is getting squeezed."

charles.gonzalez@newschief.com

Tea Party Nominates Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson for the United States Congress

Incumbent Polk County County Commissioner, the Honorable Randy Wilkinson today accepted the TEA PARTY nomination for the United States Congress, District 12. Wilkinson has been elected to one term on the Polk County School Board and three consecutive terms to the Polk County Commission.

Wilkinson has won four elections to public office. All races were county-wide in Polk County; Florida’s ninth most populous county out of 67 counties.

"We are very pleased to nominate Commissioner Wilkinson for this open Congressional seat and we anticipate that he will join Peg Dunmire in the United States Congress on November 2," stated TEA PARTY Chairman Fred O’Neal. Dunmire is the TEA PARTY nominee for the US Congress, District 8 and Miami businessman Roly Arrojo is the TEA PARTY nominee for the US Congress in District 24.

Wilkinson also becomes the first TEA PARTY elected official in Florida and the nation.

Wilkinson has attended tea party events over the past year and has been a guest speaker at many Tea Party rallies.

The Tea Party (TEA) released its financial records for the last quarter. To date, the TEA PARTY has raised a grand total of $110,453.96. That total includes both in-kind and cash donations. Cash on hand for the TEA PARTY is in excess of $20,000.

To date over 200 individuals have contributed to the TEA PARTY, with over half of those donors in April (not included in the report ending March 31, 2010).

Some notable TEA PARTY contributors include: Larry Guest (former Sentinel columnist): The Honorable Frank Messersmith (former Republican State House Leader); Richard Lee (son of the legendary milk dairy farm owner-TG Lee); The Honorable Rod Reynolds (former Winter Garden City Commissioner); The Honorable Carol Nichols (former Winter Garden City Commissioner) and Charles Klein, the former State Chairman of the Veterans Party (Florida).

The TEA PARTY is an official political party in the State of Florida and is authorized by the Secretary of State to file TEA PARTY candidates in the November 2010 general election. The official ballot designation is TEA which will follow the name of each TEA candidate. The TEA PARTY is the first in the nation to obtain new party status. Fifteen other states are in the process of establishing TEA PARTY political parties in their respective states. The most recent political TEA PARTY to organize is the New York TEA PARTY.

More information can be obtained at the following website:
www.PeopleForRandy.com
www.FloridaTeaParty.us

Who's in the Florida Tea Party?

If you watched any television news Thursday, you likely saw swarms of Americans -- some holding signs, some dressed as 18th century revolutionaries and others in casual wear -- protesting government spending.

The Tax Day protests marked a year since similar groups in the anti-government spending movement emerged on the national stage to rally against President Obama's stimulus package and the financial industry bailout enacted during the George W. Bush administration.

But who are the people in the Tea Party movement? Television footage tends to focus on the costumes and most radical protest signs. As part of our Spotlight City coverage in Tampa, we spoke with several people from the disparate groups and political organizations that comprise the Tea Party movement in Florida to get a better sense of who's spending considerable amount of their time fighting government spending. For many of the activists we spoke with, being part of the Tea Party is almost a full-time job.

Although some media coverage of protests by Tea Party groups show a seemingly monolithic entity, a closer look reveals that people in the loosely organized movement have a wide range of experiences in political activism. And they don't all agree on how exactly to harness the movement's anger at government into success at the ballot box.

We spoke with Sharon Calvert, president of the Tampa Tea Party, who said she is helping to organize rallies and protests because she is worried about how government spending might be jeopardizing her children's future.

Tom Gaitens is a field organizer with FreedomWorks, a conservative group that has helped create some of the Florida Tea Party groups. He described how the movement started and what role he played in getting the Florida movement off the ground.

You'll also meet Fred O'Neal, who founded the Florida Tea Party -- a political party -- in an effort to organize the decentralized mass of conservatives who want to do something about government spending.

Stirred by deficit, mad at both parties

A new national survey portrays the tea party movement as largely Ross Perot-style libertarians, who are almost as unhappy with Republicans as they are with Democrats.

The polling runs counter to popular perceptions of tea partiers as either a wing of the Republican Party or as people from the cultural fringes who are mad at almost everything.

The man who officially registered the "Tea Party" in Florida www.Floridateaparty.us last year isn't surprised. He's used to being misunderstood. "I got an e-mail from a lady who thought the tea party movement should be about banning the sale of tilapia," said Orlando lawyer Fred O'Neal.

The polling shows a snapshot of middle America, baby boomer vintage. Most tea partiers are married white males. Only 4 percent are African-American. They tend to be older than 45 and earn a middle income. They live in the suburbs. They watch Fox News; one in four reads a local newspaper. Their mantra: Reduce the deficit.

The survey finds an almost exclusive focus on reducing the size of government. It includes a substantial representation of Democrats, some of whom label themselves liberal, and many independents. It shows both parties will struggle to win their votes.

"It's a foolish politician who would brand tea party-ites as a monolithic, far-right bag of extremists," said Darryl Paulson, professor of government and Florida politics for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. "He or she would soon be an ex-politician."

The biggest finding, said David Winston, president of the polling firm, is that tea partiers agree with mainstream America that jobs and the economy are the nation's top concern.

Pessimism with today's political leadership is rampant among them. Only 15 percent believe the country is headed in the right direction.

Those results came out of three national surveys of 1,000 registered voters by a Washington polling company called the Winston Group. The polls were done between December 2009 and February 2010.

People were asked if they considered themselves part of the tea party movement. Overall, 17 percent of those called said they did. Of that group, 57 percent called themselves Republicans; 28 percent said they were independents; 13 percent were Democrats.

Two-thirds claimed to be conservatives, 26 percent were moderates, and 8 percent called themselves liberal.

The survey sounds on the mark to O'Neal. "The tea party movement gets some people who are attracted by the energy and excitement and some others who are just angry at life. But the core are people who are against bigger government and higher taxes."

That independents and Democrats make up four of every 10 tea partiers doesn't surprise him.

"There are two things about the Republican Party we don't like," he said. "They identify with big business. And the corporate bailouts started with George Bush and Henry Paulson (Bush's treasury secretary)."

Darryl Paulson, the USF professor, said the "last straw" for tea partiers was Bush's prescription drug entitlement with no funding source.

The movement, all agree, is not attracting many social conservatives. "We're not seeing right-to-lifers or Christian fundamentalists," O'Neal said. "We're seeing a lot of libertarians."

Texas millionaire Ross Perot won almost 20 million votes in the 1992 presidential election with a libertarian message before his popularity faded. He appealed to voters who believed neither party cared about their financial concerns. Winston sees the tea party as the legacy of Perot.

He said tea partiers may be unhappy with the Republican Party, but believe the GOP is more likely to shrink government than Democrats.

Still, "Republicans haven't made the sale yet."

What turns on tea partiers:
• Reducing the deficit.
• Reducing unemployment to 5 percent.
• Tax cuts for small businesses.

What turns them off:
• Increased government spending.
• Democrats in Congress.
• President Obama.

BREAKING NEWS: Governor Sarah Palin endorses TEA PARTY third party candidates on Hannity!

HANNITY: I know you've spoken at a lot of Tea Party events. And I have — I've been at a number of them and I've covered a number of them. I guess from my vantage point I don't think this vote would have been close except that being a bottom-up movement.

That is people speaking out with fierce opposition. I think they scared a lot of these members of Congress.

So my question to you is, do you have any worry or any concern that if there's a Tea Party candidate — for example, one could run in Nevada and kind of mess up that Harry Reid race. Are you concerned that conservatives need to make sure that they unite behind one candidate and not splinter off?

PALIN: No, I still want to see the contested primaries. I want to see the healthy, vigorous debate that talks about ideas and not personalities. I want to — I want to encourage that. And then that best candidate will rise to the top that way.

HANNITY: I'm not saying necessarily, I think they should have open primaries, too. And I think the best person should win. And I don't think they should be picked by individuals except on the merits of their positions.

But when we get to the general election, like in the case of Harry Reid. You know, Harry Reid, oh, I'm encouraging. He wants a tea party candidate in that race. And there might be one there.

In that instance if you — for example if it's Doug Hoffman and Dee Dee Scozzafava, I'm going to support Doug Hoffman, you supported Doug Hoffman in the New York 23rd.

If it's a strong conservative that gets the Republican nomination and then a Tea Party member runs as a third party candidate, do you have any worry about that?

PALIN: I do have a little bit of worry about that but at the same time that can be part of a healthy process, though. A third party candidate can really shore-up a Republican candidate in terms of that Republican candidate having to be very strong and sharp and debate aggressively, regarding the positions that they have taken.

A third party candidate, I think, Sean, can actually help in this process. And if nothing else a third-party candidate is going to help keep the Republican Party being held accountable, too.

HANNITY: Honest.

PALIN: This Tea Party movement, what it has done is forced both parties to rethink the way that they've been doing business and that's good.

HANNITY: No. That I would agree with. I think — and holding everybody accountable, including Republicans, some of which lost their ways and abandoned some of their conservative principles and values, I think is very important because I think if the country is to recover from the disastrous year or 14 months of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, we're going to need that.