This week, Q & A is discussing the Tea Party. We have heard from political scholars. Today, we go to Ground Zero -- Delaware -- and hear from the communications director of the Delaware Tea Party, Steve Hyle, who spoke to me on the phone yesterday.

The question: Will the Tea Party be a blessing or a curse for the GOP in the November midterms?

Steve Hyle: It depends on your perspective but in my perspective, I’ve been a registered Republican for all of my 66 years. But, a week ago or so, I registered as an Independent because I don’t want to be affiliated with any party that puts its own interests above the ideas I think are important.

If you only care about this or that election, about this year or next year, then I suppose the Tea Party can be a curse. But, in the long term, I hope the Republican Party will come to its senses and realize it has to support those candidates we support, those that support our ideas.

The other day I was interviewed by someone from the Washington Post and I said that the “Grand Old Party” has become the “Gone Old Party” right now.
There is no Tea Party as such. It is a movement, it is a state of mind, that the people we send to Congress need to represent us, not the special interests that only help them get re-elected, whether they be Democrat, Republican or Independent.