AN A.P. REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE TEA PARTY: Dead it’s not — the tea party lives on in grassroots activists determined to see change. “Dead the tea party is not. Changed? Perhaps. But still very much alive, in the back room of a Jim’s Restaurant in San Antonio and many other places across the land. . . . Perhaps nowhere is the persistent power of the tea party more at work today than at the local and state level, where many grassroots activists have decided to shift the focus of their efforts. More tea party-backed candidates are running for county and state Republican leadership positions, with the aim of having a bigger say in the party’s agenda and direction.”

All is proceeding as I have foreseen.