The government shutdown spawned many pointed fingers, with much blame focusing on the right wing Tea Party. My latest article in Truthoutasks if the Tea Party will end up paying for the recent shutdown during next year’s midterm elections. In this piece, I speak withelectoral strategist Steve Cobble, also an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a co-founder of Progressive Democrats of America and a senior political adviser to Free Speech for People.

Excerpt:

“If the Tea Party is going for a smaller party that’s more pure, they’re not necessarily deterred by getting beaten. [With incidents like the shutdown,] they just feel like they got sold out, so they redouble their efforts. At some point, this process will curdle on itself and collapse, but I don’t think we’ve reached that point yet. I think the Tea Party’s going to keep fighting. If the Republican caucus in Iowa for president was next week, I think Ted Cruz would win it,” Cobble said.

Get the full article here.