An anonymous donor has directed $1 million to the Tea Party Patriots to be used on this year's elections, the organization announced Tuesday, according to a report by Slate's David Weigel. “If you have a lawn, you water it, you tend to it, you weed it. That's what's happening here. And it is unique. I can't think of anything quite like it happening before,” former Republican Rep. Ernie Istook, a new adviser to the Patriots, said during Tuesday morning's news conference announcing the gift. The organization's 2,800 local tea party groups will be eligible to apply for the grant money, organization founders Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin announced at the news conference. The Tea Party Express has emerged as the most prolific tea party fundraising outfit, after backing the successful primary campaigns of Christine O'Donnell in Delaware and Joe Miller in Alaska. The Tea Party Patriots, which was among the first national organizations to harness the grass roots of the tea-party movement, reiterated Tuesday that it does not intend to offer explicit endorsements of candidates. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100921/el_yblog_upshot/tea-party-group-an… added by: Incredulous
