On 12th September 2009, hundreds of thousands of people gathered for a “taxpayer march” in Washington, DC. The Tea party has focused public anger at Obama’s reforms and forced the political establishment to take note in the run-up to the midterm elections. But is it any more than a knee-jerk response to a Democrat president? Perhaps those who will find life most difficult will be Republican moderates. In the age of the Tea party, the bad news is likely to keep coming, and a comeback for moderate Republicanism looks some way off