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The tea party candidate lost in the North Carolina Senate primary this week. But the movement is far from dead and, in some ways, is 'winning,' say activists on both ends of the political spectrum.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Richard Viguerie are political polar opposites, but they largely agree on one thing: The tea party has either won or is winning.

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One, the chair of the Democratic National Committee and a Florida congresswoman, and the other, an old bull conservative and guru of direct-mail fundraising, have their own reasons for being so bold.

Representative Wasserman Schultz may be trying to scare Democratic voters, who are notorious for not turning out in midterms. Mr. Viguerie is promoting his new book, Takeover: The 100-Year War for the Soul of the GOP and How Conservatives Can Finally Win It.

If nothing else, they demonstrate that after five years, the tea party still resonates powerfully, for better or worse even as some political players are ready to write the movements obituary.

Indeed, the victory of Thom Tillis, the speaker of the North Carolina House, in Tuesdays GOP primary for US Senate was widely seen as a victory by the Republican establishment over the tea party. He handily beat several tea party-oriented candidates, in what could be a long, tough primary season for the movement and perhaps bad news for Democrats, including Sen. Kay Hagan (D), who faces Speaker Tillis in November.

Wasserman Schultz rejects that analysis.

The tea party has won the civil war that has been raging inside the Republican Party, she asserted at aChristian Science Monitorbreakfast on Wednesday.

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Has the tea party 'won'? Yes, if you're trying to make a political point