Tea party candidates going strong in House races

LOS ANGELES - Doubters who thought the tea party would fade away can forget it. More than 70 of its favored candidates are on Nov. 2 ballots, and nearly three dozen are locked in competitive House races, according to a state-by-state analysis by The Associated Press.

From the hundreds of conservative activists who took up the cause in races this year, these candidates - mostly Republicans - emerged to capture nominations and are running with the support of loosely organized tea party groups that are furious at the government.

Some of the candidates are political newcomers who have struggled to organize and raise money and have little chance of winning election. In some states, tea party groups have been divided about whether to even back candidates or become active in campaigns.

But about 35 candidates appear to be waging campaigns that have put them ahead or within striking distance of their opponents, according to the AP analysis.

The tea party's legions of backers have Democrats fearing that 2010 could be the reverse of 2008, when 15 million first-time voters helped the Democrats win control of the White House as well as Congress.

Many Republicans are concerned, too.

Jim Bennett, who saw his father, Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, dispatched by tea party activists who flooded the state Republican convention in May, described a movement motivated and energized "to burn down anything that had anything to do with Washington."