In the wake of a sharp defeat by the Democrats and President Obama, Republicans are left struggling to refocus the party's direction. Meanwhile, Tea Party advocates have grown increasingly resentful of Republican strategy. Ryan Rhodes is the chairman of the Iowa Tea Party.

Coordination among Tea Parties also means trouble and embarrassment for candidates who try the same old political trick of “tell’em what they wanna hear” on the campaign trail. What will be different in 2012 is that instead of flocking to a candidate and attempting to attach our principles to a candidate, we will ask the candidate to say “your principles fit with mine and this is why."

In Mason City, Iowa, a roadside billboard juxtaposed the images of President Obama, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin in an attempt to draw links between what the North Iowa Tea Party believed to be similarities in the socialist agendas of the three leaders. The image drew scathing criticism from across the political spectrum, and the party asked for the billboard to be covered with a public service announcement yesterday.