Champaign, Other Communities Hold Their Own Tea Party Rallies

A noontime rally of Tea Party supporters in Champaign attracted speakers decrying big government - it also attracted a couple dozen counter-protesters.

It's the second year tea party leaders protested at West Side Park on the day tax forms are due. This year, though, a handful of opponents infiltrated the several hundred supporters - it brought out some spirited arguments over health care and other hot-button topics among young people on both sides of the issues, sometimes in loud voices.

Nearby, Mike Balogh (BAY-low) was preparing to speak. He believes the tea party movement - though young and loosely organized - is already impacting national politics.

"A lot of the Congressmen who made the back-room deals -- the Chicago-style politics -- are already seeing the writing on the wall," Balogh said before his speech. "They're saying, 'Oh, I need to spend time with my family, I don't think I'm going to run.' "So yes, I think some of the legislators are genuinely concerned."

Katrina Messmore brought a group of home-schooled children to the rally along with a long paper banner -- one of the boys carrying the banner was dressed in Revolutionary War-period rags with chains on his arms and legs. "We make it a point to teach our kids about what's going on in government, and they kind of get riled up too," Messmore said. "They realize that what they're doing today will affect them in 15, 20 years."

On the other hand, University of Illinois graduate student Laura Godek and several other counter-protesters held up signs along nearby University Avenue, attracting the occasional honk from passing vehicles. When asked if the political landscape is getting too polarized for accomplishment, Godek said there was room for discussion. "I think they're very radically right, but the best you can do is talk and come to some kind of agreement or at least have people thinking. It's worth the effort."

There's a difference of opinion nationwide over whether the Tea Party should remain outside the political structure or become a full-fledged party - some Republican elected officials and candidates mingled with red-white-and-blue-clad participants at Thursday's rally.