The Tea Party movement may be fringe no more. Americans feel less negatively about it than than they feel about the Democrats or the Republicans, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released last week. The latest Field Poll in California found that 3 in 10 surveyed identified with the movement.
The Republicans are working to marshal Tea Party support for their candidates. The Democrats, meanwhile, see an opportunity to use the movement as a wedge between moderate independents and Republicans - or at least to characterize the G.O.P. as tea party central.
Is this a typical third-party movement? Are mainstream parties ever able to co-opt third-party messages and members?