Reporting from Washington — For months, skeptics questioned the staying power of the "tea party" movement. But surprise primary election returns in Florida and Alaska this week underscored its strength and resilience.
Two outsider candidates who embraced the movement's anti-government, anti-spending messages staggered their entrenched, establishment Republican opponents Tuesday, showing that public anger toward Washington remains a resonant, if volatile, force heading into the home stretch of the congressional campaign season.
Rick Scott, a billionaire healthcare executive who has spent more than $50 million on his campaign for Florida governor, and Joe Miller, a lawyer and Army veteran who has mounted a low-powered grass-roots candidacy for an Alaska Senate seat, both found success in casting their GOP adversaries as career politicians in a year in which incumbency has been, on occasion, a toxic condition.
Going into Tuesday's primaries, those career politicians had been expected to carry the day.
But Scott knocked off Florida Atty. Gen. Bill McCollum, a former congressman, who was backed by the state's GOP establishment.
And Miller, who was endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, held a narrow lead over Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an eight-year incumbent, with thousands of absentee votes still being tallied.
Only Sen. John McCain of Arizona repelled a conservative insurgent.
Early on, McCain saw storm clouds gathering that Murkowski apparently ignored, said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst in Washington with the Cook Political Report.
"If she loses, I think it was because she ignored all the warning signs about what a tough environment this is for incumbents who have primaries," Duffy said.
Murkowski held a distinct financial advantage but didn't use it to attack Miller — in contrast to McCain, who spent more than $20 million undercutting his opponent. And although Palin's endorsement helped vault Miller into contention, campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said voters did not "really think of him as Palin's candidate," but as a "tea party candidate."
Miller potentially could join tea party candidates Sharron Angle of Nevada and Rand Paul of Kentucky in the Senate.
