A senior official says 2012 GOP candidates will have to cater to the tea party constituency. Dems see 'tea party' effect in '12

A senior Obama administration official says the triumph of tea party candidates in this year’s Republican primaries will force the GOP’s presidential candidates to “cater to that constituency,” hobbling the party in the general election against President Barack Obama.

The official said the “turmoil” on the Republican side after upset victories by tea-party-backed candidates in Alaska, Delaware and elsewhere “has implications for the races in the fall, but it also has implications, probably, for 2012.”


“The Republican Party has always been sort of a hierarchical party, where the leaders decide who the candidate will be,” the official told eight political reporters in a background briefing.

“I think it’s going to be a much different kind of process in 2012. And it’s obvious that the tea party is going to — those elements of the party are going play a big role in the nominating process. And anybody who runs for that nomination is going to have pass through that tollbooth. And I don’t think it’s going to lead … to the path to the victory. … It’s going to be hard to be a candidate for the broader electorate and still cater to that constituency.”

The official acknowledged “a general sense of jaundice” in the electorate but said the Democratic Party may do better on Nov. 2 than officials and pundits now foresee.

“You guys have very, very generously set a low bar for us,” the official said. “I feel confident that we’re going to exceed that, and it’ll be a more interesting day on Nov. 2 than people who’ve already called these elections may expect.”

The states’ increased use of early voting should help Democrats, the official said.

“One of the reasons we did well in these special elections was we organized very well around early voting,” the official said. “We did that well in 2008. We’re going to do that well here.”

On other subjects, the official said:

On Republican threats: “I don’t think the goal of the American people is gridlock. It’ll be interesting to see how many Republicans campaign on the gridlock platform. … We want checks and balances and so on. But very few Americans want gridlock. They want us to work together. We want to work together.”

On increased spending by outside groups on the Republican side: “It’s not just a challenge to Democrats; it’s a challenge to democracy. And it’s something we’re going to be talking about quite a bit.”

On governing after the election: “Even under the best of circumstances, we would probably have smaller majorities coming into the next two years, because we’ve had such … bumper crops in the last two years. … We got a lot of work done in these first two years. We’ve always understood that the next two years are going to be about implementing the … initiatives that we’ve passed.”

On congressional Republicans: “I think people are going to demand more of them. And we’re going to see it that — and we’re going to ask more of them, because these are serious times that require problem solving and not just political-point scoring, which has been the obsession of Republicans in Washington for the last two years.”

On House Republican leader John Boehner’s weekend comments about extending the Bush tax cuts: “I guess in some odd way, he was trying to be flexible there. But then he got reeled in the next day. And it was an act of momentary flexibility, leading back to the customary rigidity.”

On why it isn’t possible to compare this election cycle with any other specific one in history: “These are extraordinary times. There are factors in play that never were in play before, including Internet, … this extraordinary third-party spending … and a general sense of jaundice that I think pervades the whole electorate — not just about one party or the other but about institutions generally.”

On the possible departure of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to run for Chicago mayor: “He’s still working this through. If he makes a decision to do it, obviously he’ll leave, you know, relatively soon because there are filing deadlines and there’s work to do. But he hasn’t made a decision yet. He loves the city of Chicago — he hasn’t made any bones about that. But he has responsibilities here, and he’s working his way through all of this.”