It's pretty fascinating to watch Illinois' so-called moderate Republicans as they figure out how to deal with the conservative Tea Party element within their party.  Last summer, we saw Mark Kirk launch his U.S. Senate campaign and then quickly veer to the right when faced with raucous crowds like this one.  Now Republican Robert Dold, the GOP nominee to replace Kirk in the 10th Congressional District, is paying lip-service to this faction and trying to gloss over their conservative views. 

On WFLD's Fox Chicago Sunday this past weekend, Dold said the tea partiers have a "great voice out there." He then claimed that they aren't a "segment of the Republican Party" and pull their membership from the Democratic ranks as well.  Watch it (relevant section begins at 3:10): 

DOLD: The Tea Party has a great voice out there.  And what the Tea Party is really resonating with is that things in Washington are going wrong.  And so they're talking about liberty and the Constitution, okay?  Both things I stand for.  I mean, those are good things to be for -- liberty and the Constitution.  So when we look at the Tea Party -- the Tea Party is just angry.  It's not Republicans -- this isn't a segment of the Republican Party.  You've got Democrats that are in the Tea Party as well.  They're people who are just fed up with Washington and politics-as-usual.

Whil there are certainly a few former Democratic voters who now affiliate themselves with the Tea Party -- or at least view it favorably -- it's ridiculous to argue that this is anything but a splintering of the Republican base. 

A Rasmussen poll conducted earlier this month asked respondents: "[S]uppose the Tea Party Movement organized itself as a political party. When thinking about the next election for Congress, would you vote for the Republican candidate from your district, the Democratic candidate from your district, or the Tea Party candidate from your district?"  Here were the results:

Republican: 18%
Democratic: 36%
Tea Party: 23%
Not sure: 22%

And here is what Rasmussen found in their most recent test of the normal Democratic/Republican generic congressional ballot:

Republican: 45%
Democratic 36%

As you can see, the Democratic affiliation holds steady regardless of whether the respondents are offered a Tea Party candidate. This strongly suggests that the overwhelming majority of Tea Party supporters are Republican and Independent voters.  A CNN poll released last week backs that up:

Forty-four percent of tea partiers called themselves "Republican," while 52% said they were independent.

What comes through in Dold's comments on Fox Chicago is that -- like Kirk -- he isn't quite sure what to do with the Tea Party faction.  He's not willing to fully embrace them, but also appears scared to push them away.  Notice that he doesn't say they have "great ideas."  Instead, he compliments their "voice," focuses on their "anger," and resorts to generalities about "liberty and the Constitution." 

As with Kirk, Dold's Tea-Party-tightrope-walk will be one to watch this election year.

Also of note: Dold said during his Fox Chicago appearance that 10th District voters are "expecting thoughtful, independent leadership.  And that's what we're going to give them."  Thoughful and independent, huh?  Where have we heard that before?