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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) For U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the elder statesman of Tennessee politics, a primary challenge by a little-known tea party opponent was supposed to be little more than a glorified victory lap around the state.

Instead, the former governor and two-time presidential candidate had to crank up the campaign machinery in the closing weeks of the Republican primary to fend off state Rep. Joe Carr.

And while Alexander ultimately won, it was by just 9 percentage points a far smaller margin than his campaign and most political observers had expected. The result is giving hope to tea party supporters they could be poised to break the moderate wing of the state Republican Party's decades-long grip on statewide races.

"It is another step in the maturation of the tea party movement," said Ben Cunningham, the president of the Nashville Tea Party. "After the disappointment of losing, I wouldn't call it a euphoria, but lots of confidence about the possibilities for the future."

Cunningham said the results reflected greater coordination between disparate tea party groups, giving activists valuable on-the-ground experience in trying to support a statewide effort.

"A lot was learned just in terms of the nuts and bolts of elections," he said. "That will certainly help going forward."

In the short term, tea party activists hope to focus on local races like those for school boards, where their opposition to Common Core education standards have the most resonance, Cunningham said.

Alexander's campaign cites a number of issues contributing to the closer outcome of the Senate race, including low turnout, complacency among some of the incumbent's supporters and effective messaging by Carr's tea party supporters.

"But bottom line, the anti-Washington sentiment was stronger than we thought," said Tom Ingram, Alexander's chief campaign strategist. "A lot of our voters just didn't turn out."

Ingram said the campaign is still sorting out what it might have done differently and analyzing what the outcome means for the general election campaign against Democratic nominee Gordon Ball and for future statewide races.

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Showing in Alexander primary shows tea party strength