and i think mitch mccnell and john kyle will do it in the senate. former house republican leader, dick armey says that sn why they re running for office. various tea party groups are holding ralliearound the country today, hoping to energize the base in the final weeks before the election. the three biggest gatherings are in st. louis, sacramento and washingtond.c. shannon travis is at the washington rally. and shannon, we just heard from trent lott. is the tea party moving towards a merger, so to speak, with the repuican party? fred, i have to tell you that justenlistening todi trent lottd dick armey, they re pug ttinit a lot more politely than the activists here are putting it with. matt kibbe who works at freedom thrks is describing it as a hostile takeover. that s what they want to do with
dear old nancy pelosi. you re that angry? ticked off would be a better term. just like the tea party likely wants to pull the republican party as far to the right as hei can. and that might work in reliably red utah. if you re looking for one tea party guy to get in there, it s probably going to be mike lee. mike lee is a lock unless tha unthinkable happens. this isthe year that we take that power back. it belongs to us, let s bring about that change and it all starts right here. the question is whether lee s tea party princies will work in washington. let s talk about anotr storm, a real one in the atlantic. hurricane igor is now a major hurricane. jacqui jeras is tracking the storm for us now. igor. the storm really intensified this afternoon, fredricka. the national hurricane center sent out a special statement in the middle of the day, when they weren t planning on it, because we had such rapid intensification, they upgraded the status of the stormbe to a category
all right. the tea party movement is hoping for some big victories in november. and there s already h speculati about how that could change congress. former senate republican leader, trent lott was on cnn s state of the union today, and he says victorious tea party candidates could have a big impact if they work with gop leaders on a common agenda. well when they get here, they want to do somethingbout bad legislation, moreregulations, too much spending, too much taxationthey want to get something done. they need to bnee, the leaders need to be able to work with the people that come into the house and senate. it s not a matter of trying to get them to change their position. they re going to bring enthusiasm and new ideas and pressure in washington and i think that s goo i do think the leadership has got to learn quickly, to work with them and to turn it into positive energy and i believe they will. i think that john boehner, as the next speaker will do that.
we are taking a close look now at a political movement that could impact any midterm elections. jim acosta live for us in atlanta in the series make room for the tea party. nearly all of the tea party backed candidates for the u.s. senate are in tight races. not a sure thing that all will win. but that is not the case in utah where republican mike lee is almost a tea party sure thing. his conservative views are straight out of the tea party movement s doctrine, like privatizing social security. george washington was the original tea party man. reporter: vowing to bring a tea party revolution to washington, a republican running for the u.s. senate in utah, mike lee, is a fire-breathing contender of what s become the bible of the political movement, the u.s. constitution. i hereby vow to you i will not vote for a single bill that i can t justify based on the text of the original
constitution. reporter: at the same time, lee a lawyer who once clerked for sam alito talking about changes the constitution, saying he will take away automatic citizenship for people born in the u.s. he also supports amendments requiring balanced budgets and term limits for congress. you talk about defending the constitution and yet you want to change the constitution. isn t there a contradiction there? not at all. the constitution was made to be amended from time to time. sometimes, we have to do that in order to make the constitution more true to the american dream. reporter: he s even questioned the 17th amendment. people would be better off with their senators when they deliver their messages to washington. remember the sovereignty of the states. reporter: and democrats like to point outle lee also favors privatizing social security. so what would be the real thing, if you re the bad guy, to come along and say, we have to roll that back, roll it back and