Former Bush-era UN Ambassador John Bolton has teamed up with the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition to launch the “Election Day Tea Party” this week, an effort to galvanize voters in districts where a Republican candidate could potentially unseat an incumbent Democrat.
Michael Patrick Leahy, founder of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, told TPM that Bolton “shared common values” with the Tea Party Coalition, then “asked us to participate in the project and we were very happy to have him support it.”
The Election Day Tea Party site lists “The Top 50 Races YOU Can Help to Win,” pointing out both the Democratic incumbent and the Republican challenger. “These incumbents,” the site says, “in many cases voted for both the Stimulus and Obamacare. Of the 435 races currently underway for the control of your seats in Congress, these are the 50 contests where your individual efforts can help the challengers win.”
It continues:
This race is bigger than Barack Obama. It is bigger than Nancy Pelosi. The 2010 election cycle has been rightly called the most important election of our lifetime for a reason. November 2 is our time of choosing. Will our republic succumb to the assault on our freedom by the Ruling Class currently controlling Congress? Or will We the People come to the polls in November and once again bury tyrannical designs in the ashcan of history?
We the People choose to save the republic.
In a press release, Bolton said he “joined the Election Day Tea Party project because — perhaps more than at any other in my lifetime — the results of this election cycle will determine the future of the United States as the leader of the Free World. Election Day Tea Party is a great way for people to become involved in a substantial, productive way, no matter where you are in the country.”
According to Leahy, Bolton was a natural ally as a “volunteer citizen” who supports the “core values” of the Tea Party movement. When asked about Bolton’s exact role in the Election Day Tea Party, Leahy told TPM that “our group organized it” but Bolton “is encouraging people to visit the site.”
The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition describes its mission as “to organize and launch in a rapid response fashion special nationwide projects that help advance the goal of a return to constitutionally limited government.” Among their projects is a Whole Foods boycott, and forming several organizations like “Take the Town Halls to Washington” that are now standalone groups.
Bolton, who is a frequent critic of President Obama’s foreign policy, a Fox News contributor, and a proud mustache-bearer, has lately begun dipping a toe into domestic politics. Most recently, he videoed in to the September 11 protest against the Cordoba House Islamic center near Ground Zero.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: ‘No More Mosque!’: Protesters Rally Against Park51 Islamic Center]
Bolton’s partnership with Tea Party elements is just the latest in a series of moves that might be part of his preparation for a 2012 presidential run, which he has indicated could be in the cards.
