“There’s no Tea Partier that I talk to in the state or nationally that would want to promote Romney,” Martin said. “Other than the people that have come out publicly and endorsed Mitt Romney and the people left over from his 2008 campaign, I do not personally know anyone that does not despise Mitt Romney and doesn’t hate the idea of him being our nominee.”
A combination of Romneycare, flip-flops on issues, and a perceived slight of the Tea Party by Romney have combined to make him incredibly unpopular within the movement. Martin said that her group felt “betrayed” by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley
And it isn’t all bad news for the Iowa victor, according to James. He notes that the group is more concerned with knocking President Obama out of power, so they will likely “grudgingly” vote for him if he wins the nomination. And James also finds one person, Allen Olsen — former head of the Columbia County Tea Party, and now a Newt Gingrich volunteer — who has heard of a Romney supporter in the state’s Tea Party system.
“I think,” Olsen says, “there’s one Tea Party member in Columbia who likes him.”