APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) The Tea Party Express rolled into Appleton Monday night. A crowd of about a hundred gathered in the back parking lot of the Machine Shed to listen to speakers and rally behind November candidates.
While the Tea Party originally backed Mark Neumann in Wisconsin's U.S. Senate race, leaders say they are now firmly behind Tommy Thompson.
With fewer Tea Party candidates on the ballot this year compared to 2010, we asked a political science expert at UW Fox Valley to weigh in on the staying power of the group. "The problem in politics for a lot of these movements is there isn't a fire in the belly to maintain a movement like that when it suffers defeats - that's a real challenge for any movement," says George Waller, Sr. Lecturer of Political Science.
The Tea Party Express' next stop is Antigo at 11:00 Tuesday morning. Then they'll hit Duluth, Minnesota Tuesday night.
