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Supported by Republicans: Democrat Paul Davis is running for governor in Kansas. Photo: Photo: AP

Kansas is not only the geographical heart of the United States, but to many Midwesterners, something like its soul.

It is the home of sturdy conservatism and its champions, men such as the war heroes-come-politicians Bob Dole and Dwight Eisenhower. And of Dorothy and Toto too.

And it has become the battleground of one of the most unlikely of the midterm elections in which traditional Republicans have crossed party lines to back a Democratic challenger, Paul Davis, over the Tea Party-backed governor, Sam Brownback.

Should Governor Brownback lose after a single term, the nationwide consequences could be significant. Brownback was elected in the 2010midterm elections when Tea Party candidates were swept into Congress and into governors' mansions across the nation.

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Should he manage to win, Brownback andhis hard-right allies across the nation will claim vindication for his hardline agenda, in particular spectacular cuts in tax and spending and government services. Should he lose, Republican moderates will be emboldened to fight for a more centrist platform before the 2016 presidential elections.

The bitter campaign has also bled into the senatorial election in which the Republican incumbent senator, Pat Roberts, is finding his re-election bid tougher than expected.Should he lose the Republican Party's bid to take over the Senate could be jeopardised.

Back in 2010 the depth of the bitter political divide that still grips America was becoming evident. A backlash against Barack Obama's presidency, and particularly his healthcare reforms, had erupted and was being fanned by private donors backing Tea Party groups.

Those that rode the wave of dissatisfaction into Congress set about seeking the repeal of healthcare legislation and in line with their small-government ideology blocking any other initiatives that crossed their desks. Led by firebrands such as Senator Ted Cruz they not only prevented basic legislating but blocked nominations to key government posts, halted the budget process and even shut down the government.

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Tide going out for the Tea Party in US midterms

It took less than 24 hours for conservative media to sound the alarm over tea party leader and Green Tea Coalition founder Debbie Dooley's decision to speak out at Wednesday's "Pitchfork Protest" in St. Petersburg against Duke Energy and its attempts to squelch alternative energy in Florida.

"A divide has begun to unfold in the usually conservative Tea Party movement in Florida and more generally in the Southeast," warned a blog posting Thursday morning on Breitbart.com, the conservative news and opinion website founded by Andrew Breitbart.

Dooley, the post says, "has launched an effort in Florida to push for so-called energy deregulation, but it appears to be yet another avenue for wealthy liberals to advance a radical environmentalist agenda."

Really? Talk about the conservatives eating their own. Dooley, a tea party activist from Georgia, explained quite clearly from Wednesday's protest podium why she was getting involved in the Sunshine State. Monopolies, like Duke Energy's stranglehold on west-central Florida, are bad and stifle competing forms of power production in the state.

"These giant monopolies are trying to protect their profit margin," Dooley told the Tampa Bay Times. "They are no longer looking out for the best interests of their utility customers. They are looking out for the best interest of their stockholders."

But the Breitbart posting smells a conspiracy, noting that Dooley's group, Conservatives for Energy Freedom, recently launched a chapter in Florida. "Their main purpose is to expand solar energy use. Sounds innocent enough until you dig deeper," the Breitbart posting by Javier Manjarres says. "It appears that there are direct links between Dooley and her group and ultra-liberal billionaire Tom Steyer's group, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. This is Halloween scary."

The bombastic posting warns that the agenda of the Southern Alliance (which says it takes no money from Steyer) promises to "wreck the nation's economy, put our national security at risk, and bankrupt the seniors and small businesses of this state." As for Dooley, the posting complains it's disturbing that she "appears to be in league with an effort by liberals to fund an undermining of our conservative movement."

Is that all? Surely Florida should maintain the status quo in which ratepayers must pay Duke for electricity priced far higher than its peers in the state and remain stymied in seeking other options for power at potentially lower costs.

Dooley, who has aggressive plans to build her antimonopoly Green Tea Party group in Florida, suggests a less onerous reason to get involved. "Being good stewards of our natural resources, and wanting energy freedom and choice are issues that resonate across the political spectrum," she said. "They're not Democrat issues. They're not Republican issues. They are American issues."

Tea Party leader roils the far right with clean energy stance 10/30/14 [Last modified: Thursday, October 30, 2014 8:05pm]

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Tea Party leader roils the far right with clean energy stance

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