Dems' November Platform: GOP=Tea Party

Has the Tea Party movement become a liability for Republicans? Democrats sure think so. Even as Republicans rush to establish their Tea Party bona fides, the DNC plans to launch a campaign linking the party to the movement, sources tell the AP. The goal is to paint the GOP as the party of extremists—and the activists as tools of the establishment.

Democrats think the strategy, which Tim Kaine will officially launch later today, will prepare them for any activists they might run afoul of during the August recess, hopefully preventing a rerun of last summer’s disastrous town hall meetings. They’ll be waving around a 10-point blueprint of how they imagine the Tea Party would run the country, and emphasizing how much power the movement already has in Congress. (More Tea Party stories.)