Republican race

Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H.

Just a year ago, tea-party activists came roaring out of the congressional elections eager to shape the looming race for the White House.

Things have not gone as planned.

Turned off by Mitt Romney’s style and evolution on several important issues, they have bounced from one candidate to another in hopes of finding a formidable alternative to the former Massachusetts governor to focus their enthusiasm.

After a series of disappointments — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain among them — the anti-establishment movement has settled, for now, on a favorite: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, even though he has spent more than three decades in Washington politics.

With the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and tea-party support fractured at best, some activists worry that the passion that defined the movement 13 months ago may become lost in the selection of the next president.

Infighting among conservative groups, a growing sense of pragmatism and glaring weaknesses among the candidates have forced some tea-party leaders to acknowledge their limits and shift their attention to Congress.

“I wish that we had coalesced behind one candidate earlier on. It’s not because of the tea-party movement; it’s because there hasn’t been that candidate out there so far that has stirred the passion — the fire in the belly,” said Amy Kremer, president of the Tea Party Express. “Everybody wants to focus on presidential politics. I think we need to be focused on the Senate. That’s where we really, really need to be engaged.”

Lacking a presidential contender to rally behind, Kremer’s organization and others have begun eyeing congressional elections that could shift the balance of power on Capitol Hill next fall regardless of the presidential race winner.

Other tea-party groups, despite a desire to play prominently in the White House contest, are left to focus on policy debates in Congress.

They’ve already helped shape the debate over federal spending, pushing the House to pass a balanced budget amendment while rejecting Democrats’ effort to raise new revenues to help close the federal deficit.