The Tea Party was the first glimmer of recognition, but they made a huge tactical mistake and sided with people like Mitt Romney.

Actually, the tea party did not side with people like Mitt Romney. I know because for about a year, Andy and I were both tea party members and Andy was VP of the Akron tea party. He resigned the post when it looked like the Akron tea party was just becoming another arm of the republican party. The people who came into office because of the tea party were people like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio (who turned around and did not keep any of the promises he made when the tea part helped to elect him. See how much good that did him)