Few top Republicans coming to Florida Tea Party Convention

Vice President Joe Biden stirred up the Florida Democratic Party's convention last weekend; all the prominent Republican presidential and Senate candidates attended the state Republican Party's Presidency 5 state convention in September.

But the Florida Tea Party Convention being held this weekend in Daytona Beach doesn't seem to be getting that that kind of respect.

Very few of the top Republican presidential and Senate candidates and Florida elected officials plan to attend the event, which begins today, and is scheduled to include Senate and presidential candidate forums.

Most are citing scheduling conflicts, government business or the pressure of campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire as their reasons for missing the event.

But political experts say the declining public reputation of the tea party movement may also be part of the reason.

Among the invitees:

• The state's two leading elected Republicans, Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, won't be there, although both are listed as speakers on the schedule for the three-day event.

• Of the major presidential candidates, only Rick Santorum confirmed to the Tampa Tribune this week that he's attending. Ron Paul's campaign couldn't be reached for comment; the event isn't on his campaign web site schedule, although event organizers said he'll be there. Spokesmen for Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney all said they won't make it.

• Of the five most prominent U.S. Senate candidates, only two, Craig Miller and Mike McCalister, say they're attending. Adam Hasner, George LeMieux and Connie Mack, who has leaked that he's running but not announced, are taking a pass.

• Also not showing are Florida's three Cabinet members, all Republicans – Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.

• The latest tea party hero in Florida and nationwide, Rep. Allen West of Plantation, won't be there either.

"It's like they're throwing a party and the guests of honor aren't going to show up," said retired University of South Florida political scientist Darryl Paulson, a Republican.

Organizers of the event said they're expecting 1,200 to 1,500 people from 13 states for all or parts of the three-day event at a Daytona Beach resort hotel, including some 100 news personnel, more than 40 speakers and about 70 vendors.

Attendees paid up to $149 to register for some or all of three days of events, and all the dinners with speakers are sold out, said Sid Van Landingham of Clermont, with the South Lake 9-12 Tea Party group.

Pam Dahl of the Tri-County Tea Party of The Villages, chief organizer of the event, was surprised this week when a reporter told her which presidential candidates said they weren't coming. She said she thought Bachmann, Perry and Paul were coming.

"That's news to me," she said.

Dahl also said Rubio would provide a video message for the event, but a Rubio spokesman said Thursday the senator couldn't fit it in.

Establishment Republicans, although they want tea party support, are wary of close ties to the movement, some experts said.

"For all the good the tea party has brought to the debate, they also carry quite a lot of liabilities," said Republican political consultant Chris Ingram of Tampa. "Association with them is viewed as a negative."

Paulson noted recent polling that shows the movement's image has grown more negative. The approach of Republicans seems to be, "Be friends with the tea party but don't get too close," he said.

For candidates, another big problem is their time, the most precious commodity for any campaign besides money.

"We wanted to go. If we could fit in it with the schedule he'd be there -- but not with the calendar the way it is and the focus on Iowa and New Hampshire," said Nick Hansen, Florida field director for Perry. "He can't be in two places at once."

Wes Maddox of Texas and Tampa, a Perry friend and supporter eavily involved in the campaign, said the tea party movement is "a group of mavericks who want to influence the party from an external perspective, and my views are very much in line with theirs, but because we're in the primary season, the emphasis is on the party itself."

But some campaign aides, asking not to be quoted by name, said the planning for the event has been disorganized.

Dahl acknowledged the movement doesn't have a professional staff to organize an event. "We are a tea party group, a grass-roots group – we're not ABC, NBC or CBS," she said.

Asked whether she was bothered that the big-name Republicans aren't showing, she said, "Considering how many debates there have been lately, it doesn't bother me – it's almost as if they're overdoing it.

"It's unfortunate because these are tea party people, and they would ask them good questions," she said.