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Tea Party-GOP Dynamics in D.C.

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The GOP and the Tea Party deliver two separate responses to the State of the Union. Are these two futures for the GOP?

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., a leader of the Tea Party Caucus, speaks at a reception by the Iowans for Tax Relief, Jan. 21, 2011. (AP)
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., a leader of the Tea Party Caucus, speaks at a reception by the Iowans for Tax Relief, Jan. 21, 2011. (AP)

President Obama makes his State of the Union address tonight. It will be about public investments and about public deficit reduction, we’re told.

Then comes the Republican rebuttal. Or actually, two rebuttals. One is the official GOP response from Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. And another, unsanctioned, from a Tea Party hero, the fiery Representative Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota.

Is this twice the power? Turbo-charging? Or is it a problem for the GOP?

We look at The Republican Party and the Tea Party, and how they mesh – or don’t – in Congress.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:

Jonathan Martin, senior political writer for Politico.

Mickey Edwards, Republican Congressman from Oklahoma from 1977 to 1993 and a member of the House Republican Leadership in those years. He’s now a lecturer in public and international affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. He's author of “Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost–And How It Can Find Its Way Back.”

Kellen Guida, co-Founder of the TeaParty365, the New York City Tea Party. He is now based in Washington where he manages the BBA Now Campaign, which is working for the passage of a balanced budget amendment.

Ezra Klein, opinion blogger for the Washington Post.

This program aired on January 25, 2011.

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