Phil Moffett

We mentioned yesterday how the Kentucky Persons of Tea took a great deal of the shine off David Williams’ nomination Tuesday, as Phil Moffett whipped him in the Golden Triangle and turned what was supposed to be a landslide into a few hours of indigestion. But now where will they go? To David Williams, the man they castigated as a big spending, big taxing, part-of-the-problem career politician? To the Last Free Man in America and the original tea partier, Gatewood Galbraith? Or, dare we ask, Steve Beshear?

Well, there have been a few stories asking their “leadership” which way they are looking, and my goodness is it fascinating.

Paul Keith of the Bowling Green Tea Party says he’ll fall in line behind Williams, but he says that doing so will be hard for many:

“But I’ve been reading blogs and Facebook postings all morning, and it ain’t good. They don’t like Williams, and they don’t like him even a little bit.”

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“At some point they are going to mellow out and think about this and most of them will decide that David Williams is … the lesser of two evils,” he said.

Phil Moffett? Not exactly a ringing endorsement:

Moffett said he hasn’t decided to what degree he’ll help Williams and plans to meet with him soon to talk about what role he might play in the fall campaign.

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“I think he has a lot of work to do in that regard,” Moffett said. “I’ll be happy to make all the introductions he needs into the tea party, but it’s going to be up to him.”

Wendy Caswell of the Louisville Tea Party?

Wendy Caswell, president of the Louisville Tea Party, said she doesn’t know how successful Williams will be in getting the tea party backing. But she said her group would consider him at some point between now and November.

“David Williams could possibly get the support but he’s really going to have to court the tea party to get them under his wing,” she said.

David Adams is busy tweeting about “scheming” in Lexington and Bowling Green, while saying things like this:

Adams said it’s possible some Tea Party and Moffett supporters might get behind Williams — if Williams engages Tea Party groups in “a serious dialogue.”

Randy Keller of the Bowling Green Tea Party?

“The Tea Party vote is totally up is in the air,” Randy Keller, a member of the Bowling Green/Southern Kentucky Tea Party, told Pure Politics in a phone interview.

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“Ninety-five percent of tea party people will not endorse Williams at all,” Keller said.

But what about the most serious and thoughtful and important voice that should be listened to among the Kentucky teabaggers, and certainly the Kentucky media, our good old friend Mica Sims?

But at least one of Moffett’s strongest supporters said backing Beshear is a possibility.

“The tea party has its own mind,” said Mica Sims, a member of the Lexington Tea Party and a blogger. “I’m hearing it all. But a lot of my group will be voting for Beshear.”

Sims said the logic for voting for Beshear is that if a state is stuck with candidates who all could “mismanage the state,” it would be better to pick one that is limited to serving only four more years. Beshear is limited by law to serving beyond two terms.

That’s the awesome logic that we’ve come to know and love from old Mica. Sage.

So what’s to be learned by this, besides the obvious fact that David Williams is going to have to work for their support?

Well, David Williams should be spending the next few months beginning his move to the political center so that he’s more appealing to all of those conservative Democrats that might be willing to give him a chance. Instead, he’s now going to have to beg and plead to the radical wing of the party, all while the voters in the center watch.

The point being: Steve Beshear is thanking God (the one who ordered T-Rexes onto Noah’s Ark and told them to not eat anything while on board) for the great gift that is the tea party.