Tea party movement looks as though it's losing some steam

'After all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done."

This old saying could apply to most politicians and political campaigns. In the current election cycle it will be most representative of the tea party movement.

The movement, with its many iterations across the country, appears long on rhetoric and short on specifics. There is no question that the tea partiers have touched a nerve. To date however there is little follow through.

In Connecticut there appears to be close to 50 tea party groups. A review of many of their websites or blogs gives interested voters lots of flags and patriotic verbiage, but little direction.

The Hartford Tea Party Patriots website mission statement is representative of most:

"We are dedicated to educating, motivating and activating our fellow citizens, using the power of the values, ideals and tenets of our Founding Fathers.

"We are dedicated to uniting patriots throughout the state, using the power of the electoral process to identify and support local, state and national candidates who follow the teachings of our Founding Fathers."

Who could disagree? It sounds great. But, what taxes does the tea party movement want cut? And more important, what programs or departments will it eliminate? And, finally, why isn't the tea party a party - as in political party? I see these folks in tri-corner hats and battle gear but they seem reluctant to actually engage. Form a party, get on the ballot and make a difference instead of making T-shirts and bumper stickers.

The other problem the tea party has is a lack of reality. Concentrating on President Obama's birth place, or how Nancy Pelosi is a socialist or whatever vitriol is the rave du jour is, well, silly. There are plenty of policy areas to discuss and limited time in which to develop the counter arguments and mobilize instead of wasting time and resources arguing about the president's birth certificate.

Kindred opposition

There are uncanny similarities between the tea party and left-wing activists. For example Mr. Global Warming, Al Gore, has a 10,000-square-foot home in Tennessee plus his new $9 million abode in California and a Lear jet. That carbon footprint needs one heck of a shoe.

Former Republican majority leader Dick Armey was a longtime member of Congress and a co-founder of Tea Party Patriots (TPP). While he was founding TPP he was also a principal at the powerful Washington lobby firm DLP Piper. Nothing wrong with that except the whole impetus of the tea party movement is to work with people "outside of Washington,"- you know, "real folk."

Armey and many who are making money from the TPP are about as outside of Washington as Al Gore is living a "green life." The bottom line is, many in the tea party movement, and Al Gore devotees, are being hoodwinked. The one common trait between Gore and Armey and their minions is they are making money; lots of it, and you're not.

Across the country it's clear that the tea party movement is leaking oil. Sen. John McCain, once in real trouble in his Arizona Republican primary with former congressman and teaparty candidate J.D. Hayworth, is now crushing old J.D. by 45 points.

Marco Rubio, former speaker of the House in Florida, who has strong tea party backing, pushed current Gov. Charlie Crist out of the Republican Party Senate primary when polls had Rubio up by 30 points.

Now running as an independent, Christ leads Rubio by 5 points - a 40-point swing. Here in Connecticut, in the most target-rich environment for Republicans in years, not one of the five congressional seats currently held by Democrats is in danger of falling.

Locally, in the 2nd Congressional District, The Day's Ted Mann reports that not one of the three Republicans running has more than $20,000 to spend. Talk is cheap, unless you need to buy advertising.

There is still time before Nov. 2 for the tea partiers to make a real difference. It will require more than slogans, blogs and tri-corner hats.

Expect to be underwhelmed.

Ben Davol is a veteran of numerous local, state and federal political campaigns. Once a Republican organizer, he is now registered as unaffiliated.