Tea Party says it can win national elections

Washington, Sept.17 (ANI): The Tea Party has rejected suggestions and acusations that it is a divisive force in Republican politics, and claimed that it can win elections at the national level.

Amy Kremer, chairman of the Tea Party Express, said Republican leaders in Washington must stop underestimating the anger at large in the country, embrace the Tea Party's anti-spending agenda and start cleaning up the capital's rotten political culture.

"We have rocked their world, they don't quite know what to do with us and they are not happy about us," she told the Daily Telegraph.

"Washington is paying attention to what is going on, so the question is whether or not they will actually act upon it and change their ways. I wish they could put animosity aside," she added.

Offering no hint of compromise, she vowed that Tea Party followers would keep up the pressure on Washington after November, even though the Republican Party is expected to make major gains.

"This movement is a direct result of people being fed up, dissatisfied and angry with both Democrats and Republicans, with politicians who spend too much of our money and are not accountable. It is not about electing Republicans, but electing conservatives," she said, adding: "Beltway media and pundits don't have their finger on the pulse of America."

Kremer's comments came after the surprise victory of inexperienced Christine O'Donnell in this week's Republican Senate primary in Delaware.

GOP bosses, who had thrown their weight behind the losing candidate Mike Castle, were privately furious at the result and with the interference in the race of the Tea Party Express, one of the best organised groups in the conservative grassroots network.

O'Donnell, however, faces questions about her financial propriety and exaggerating her educational record, while her strong religious views are considered off-putting to some. (ANI)