Has Tucson Tea cooled from boiling to tepid?

by David Safier

PDA (Progressive Democrats of America) had its first Tucson chapter meeting and overflowed a 150 seat room with 300 participants. The Tucson Tea Party responded with a plan to create a crowd on the corner of Speedway and Tucson Friday to show what real people power looks like. It even got a publicity boost from the Star in Friday's Political Briefs.

The result was, maybe a hundred people. Here are the Tucson Tea Party's own pics of the event.

The next day, about 600 people gathered at Speedway and Campbell to support union workers in Wisconsin. You can see pictures if you follow the link.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, any reports of the death of the Tea Party would be an exaggeration. But they're in a bit of a slump right now, a malaise, if you will. After their triumphant "We Won! We Won! We Won!" in November, their street-corner energy has dwindled, while their legislative muscle has increased. Meanwhile, Democrats/progressives who feel themselves under attack, are gathering with renewed vigor.

This is normal ebb and flow. The big question will be, what will 2012 look like? It's much too soon for predictions, but it looks like some of the energy Democrats showed in 2008 could return.