Arkansas Tea Party: Out of Touch

Many political observers believe the current heart and soul of Arkansas Republicans is the local Tea Party movement. The Arkansas Tea Party Caucus has been the most active in the past couple of years and many Republican campaign volunteers and donors come out of this group.

Last night, the Arkansas Tea Party Caucus met in North Little Rock and held a Presidential Straw Poll. They held two rounds of voting and in the end, by a 72% margin they voted for – wait for it – Michele Bachmann.  Michele Bachmann sets the hearts aflutter of the Arkansas Tea Party Caucus and other Arkansas Republicans.

Bachmann has no shot of winning the Republican nomination and has been discredited countless times by members of her own party and the press.  Yet, the Arkansas Tea Party Caucus is so out of touch they endorsed someone like extremist and nutty Michele Bachmann.

Newt Gringrich came in a very distant second in the Arkansas Tea Party Caucus Straw Poll.  Rick Perry, who was endorsed back in June by 19 Republican legislators, didn’t even make it to the Top 4 during the first round of voting.

Since Arkansas Republicans love the Tea Party so much, will RPA Chairman Doyle Webb issue a press release embracing the Tea Party’s endorsement?  Michele Bachmann seems to be who Arkansas’ conservative activists want as their nominee, so the RPA might as well hop on the bandwagon.