Just as the Tea Party drew heavily on a public backlash against government spending, another new political movement — the Tequila Party — aims to use the latest crackdown on illegal immigration to motivate Latinos to vote in 2012.
Arizona Republican DeeDee Garcia Blase formed the National Tequila Party Movement as an answer to a Tea Party influence she blames for increased political opposition to immigration.
The group has no aspirations to become a third political party. Its focus will be registering as many of the nation's 21 million voting-age Latinos as it can, targeting young voters in presidential battleground states.
Unlike the Tea Party groups, which have generally aligned with Republicans, the Tequila Party pledges no allegiance to either major party. Blase has dropped her affiliation as a lifelong Republican — and plans to resign as president of Somos Republicans — to protest the Republican-led immigration enforcement law passed in her home state of Arizona. The Tequila Party held its launch party in Tucson last month.
"It's been very, very frustrating. I'm embarrassed for the state of Arizona and the Republican Party there," Blase says. "I'm a Republican, but I'm a reasonable Republican." READ MORE
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