Originally Posted by djplong

Not to be rude, just realistic - the Libertarians already have the structure in place. It takes a LONG time to build that and the Tea Party is just getting started.

The only reason the Reform Party got started so fast was because of Perot's money and his fame got him on the news.

The Tea Party, for the most part, is really grass roots - and not all the publicity has been good. This is going to have to be a *sustained* effort with the 'local cells' coming together and agreeing on a set of principals that can become a platform.

Personally, I think this is why the GOP came back in 1994 - the Contract With America was 10 easy-to-understand principles that most Americans could get behind. If you, as a candidate, "signed the contract", you gave the electorate a promise that made it easy to hold your feet to the fire (and let's face it, that's what we want).

If the Tea Party had a "Contract for a New America", I think that would go a long way. In addition, the process of formulating that contract would allow for some good debate. I think having a party debate within itself MIGHT be divisive, but it's got to have a better shot at producing compromise and unity than the current Democrat/Republican "they're for it therefore we're against it" mentality.