In the mid-1890s, insurgents in the Republican Party began to challenge the traditional party leadership, the "Stalwarts."  The insurgents tried to take the party nomination in 1894, and failed, but then began to gain a greater following when former Dane County DA and Congressman "Fighting Bob" La Follette followed with bids for the party nomination in 1896 and 1898.  He took on the traditional target of rural farmers, the railroads, in the courts and in fiery speeches calling for a more direct democracy -  including direct election of nominees in party primaries - that drew ever-larger crowds.  Of course, so did his theatrical gesticulations, practiced for hours prior to his speeches/performances.  Finally, in 1900, La Follette formed a coalition within the party - as he would again and again outside of the party - that took away the Stalwarts' hold on the  nomination process, and he won the bid for the gubernatorial run.  And then he won the race, in no small part owing to his speechwriter and campaign manager for the rest of his career as well: the first woman to graduate from the UW Law School, although she never practiced law because she ran the rest of his life, their future magazine, and much more: Belle Case La Follette.  
But the Stalwarts within the GOP continued to bedevil La Follette during his years as governor, 1900-1906 - or, as he termed those years in recognition of Belle, "when we were governor."  For example, he proposed a railroad commission and a tax on railroad companies as well as a direct primary system for the state, but the Stalwarts in the legislature - in his own party - repeatedly blocked his agenda.  So in his 1904 re-election race, when the Stalwarts organized to oppose La Follette's nomination and moved to block any reform legislation, "Fighting Bob" formed the first of his many successful coalitions outside the party, uniting with insurgent Democrats to win some revisions to the railroad tax structure and passage of the direct primary bill.  Soon, the Stalwarts were outflanked for the most part . . . and, of course, La Follette went on to form a series of coalitions of his insurgent Progressives and others for years, still leading the state party from afar when he went on to Washington.  

And when the coalition brought together his Progressives centered in the state capital with upstate Populists and Milwaukee Socialists, history would be made in Wisconsin, which would set a reform agenda realized nationwide decades later by a fighting Democrat.  See: the New Deal. So when you see FDR accused of being a Socialist, there is some logic to it!  He picked up some reforms pushed by Socialists and then picked up by the Progressives -- and more reforms tried in those desperate times by another governor of Wisconsin, his son Phil, and the Progressive Party.  See: the CCC (although Phil failed in his attempt to get FDR to not give in to the opposition, within his own party, to racial segregation in the federal CCC, sadly).

But I have strayed far from the story of the Stalwarts in the early days of the Progressives; sorry. . .  Anyway, what I find fascinating is how effective can be those pols who know when to hold 'em, to hold fast against fools within the party as well as without, and who know when to fold 'em and form effective coalitions.  Most effective, it seems, are those pols who put priority on the "effective" part, on real power, even if they never become President . . . as "Fighting Bob" failed to do in the 1920s, when he died soon afterward.  But his legacy lived on, because he put "effective" before ego, as well.

Not that the Stalwarts did not come back under different names, as "internecine" might as well be the middle name of any party -- all parties being coalitions, and often uncomfortable ones, of course.  The pseudo-Stalwarts continued to bedevil his sons, the governor and the Senator, for decades as well.  Btw, Phil is lesser-known as he stayed in the state, but his governorship in the Depression is well worth studying as well.  His brother "Young Bob" became better known as a Senator, taking his father's seat in 1925, and one who would cross the aisle as well -- but his career was ended decades later by none other than Joe McCarthy (whose attack style seen later by the nation started in Wisconsin, attacks that were said to have led to "Young Bob's" later suicide, although he also was subject to chronic depression, as had been his father; for this, the book Belle is best and, if flawed, quite revealing for many reasons, as it was written recently by none other than yet another La Follette. . . .

And as for the legacy living on, only one state-level Democrat incumbent survived the GOP sweep yesterday in Wisconsin:  A La Follette, a very very distant cousin but one who has benefitted from the surname by serving as state Secretary of State for decades now . . . and, no doubt, for decades to come.  The legacy is more stalwart than any of those in the opposition!

But there is one rather important detail that makes a big difference. The chart is based on the assumption that the current administration should be blamed for the 2009 fiscal year. While this makes sense to a casual observer, it is largely untrue. The 2009  fiscal year began October 1, 2008, nearly four months before Obama took office. The budget for the entire fiscal year was largely set in place while Bush was in the White House So is we update the chart to show the Bush fiscal years in green, we can see that Obama is partly right in claiming that he inherited a mess (though Obama actually deserves a small share of the blame for Bush's last deficit since earlier this year he pushed through both an "omnibus" spending bill and the so-called stimulus bill that increased FY2009 spending).

Also, who is and isn't a Tea Partier isn't set in stone:

Identifying Tea Party candidates is undoubtedly inexact. Our criteria, generally, was to include anyone who has either been backed by a Tea Party group or has identified themselves as a member of the Tea Party movement. Toward the end of this cycle, however, seemingly every Republican was trying to associate themselves this way. One left off the list was Dino Rossi, despite Jim DeMint endorsing him, since Tea Party groups backed Clint Didier in the primary.