Citizen Cartwright

And now, the Coffee Party

My thanks to the reader who alerted me to the formation of the Coffee Party, which started as a Facebook rant by a woman in suburban Washington and is growing fast — adding 11,000 fans between Monday morning and afternoon.

Apparently, the difference between tea and coffee is that the former is anti-government and the latter believes in working with it.

The government is the "expression of our collective will, and ... we must participate in the democratic process," the Coffee Party's mission statement says.

At the Conservative Political Action Committee conference

The audience was revved up Thursday by the surprise appearances of Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I think Barack Obama is a one-term president," Cheney said.

Former House majority leader Dick Armey called Obama "the most incompetent president perhaps in our lifetime."

Conservatives sign 'Mount Vernon Statement'

More than 80 leaders and activists — including those Fox News calls "the most influential conservative grassroots leaders nationwide" — met in a library at George Washington's estate on Wednesday to sign a statement recommitting their movement to values and principles found in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

"For those of us striving hard every day to defend our nation's freedoms from liberalism's belief that an ever-increasing government is the cure for every care, the Mount Vernon Statement is a breath of fresh air that reminds us that constitutional conservatism need not be reinvented or poll-tested in each new election cycle," said House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence, Ind. "It merely needs to be restated and practiced, as its principles are timeless."

Conservatives are gathering in Washington for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins Thursday. 

At Democratic retreat, Obama entreats Senators not to

On the eve of the swearing in of Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown, the president worked on Wednesday to buck up Democratic senators rattled by the loss of the seat.

He urged them to "finish the job" on health care legislation.

“I would just suggest to this caucus, if anybody’s searching for a lesson from Massachusetts, I promise you the answer is not to do nothing,” he said.

New center-right group

Some prominent Republicans are getting ready to announce the formation of a group they're calling the American Action Network. They say their aim is to leverage opposition to President Obama and to take advantage of the recent Supreme Court campaign finance ruling to promote conservative ideas.

Backers include former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, McCain campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Tea Party convention opening in Nashville

Supporters of the three-day event say it will build alliances across state lines, strengthening into a force that can push the Democratic and Republican parties to change their ways or face a threat to their existence, The Tennessean reports.

But opponents say their grass-roots uprising is being turned into a top-down organization that will be co-opted by the major parties, the paper says.

"One side is trying to build an organization," says Marcus Pohlmann, a political science professor at Rhodes College in Memphis. "The other wants a protest movement. There are reasons for both."

Political dynasties

Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Beau, returned home from a year in Iraq with his National Guard unit Wednesday to renewed speculation that he'll run for his dad's old Senate seat.

Other expected next-generation runs for office in 2010 include the sons of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Rep. Ron Paul and former Rep. Carrie Meek.

The Christian Science Monitor