The Ron Paul Tea Parties

Politics | Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 11:01:35 am PDT

I know a lot of people want to deny it, but statistics posted and analyzed at FiveThirtyEight.com show a strong correlation between attendance at tea parties and support for crazy uncle Ron Paul: Were the Tea Parties Really a Libertarian Thing?

What we seem to have is an audience that was about two parts Ron Paul/libertarian conservative (with its strength out West and in New Hampshire) and one part Sarah Palin/red-meat conservative (with its strength in rural areas, particularly in the South). This is perhaps not an accident, since Paul and Palin are just about the only Republicans to have generated some real grassroots enthusiasm over the past few years.