Tarrant County is the reddest county in the reddest state in the nation, NE Tarrant county is about as red as you can get. So, how do the moderate Republicans that are running in the primary fight that red? Simple, throw out the Ron Paul label and hopes that it sticks.

Ron Paul has been touted with being the “Father of the Tea Party”, heck, Jason Rink even wrote a book with that for a title. As I have stated here a few times, I respect Dr. Paul’s ideas on economics, his battle with the Fed and his honesty that this country is going broke. In fact, I believe that if Romney loses this fall, his son Rand Paul will be the front runner for the Republican Nomination in 2016.

Where most Republicans start to differ with Dr. Paul is when it comes to Foreign Policy and some of his social libertarian ideals (legalizing drugs, same sex marriage, etc). In fact, on those issues alone is where Dr. Paul is drawing his huge numbers of very young and ardent supporters. It’s also where he draws in support of Democrats, like my mother. Senator Paul isn’t quite the social libertarian that his father is, and with the country heading for a “come to Jesus” moment when it comes to our debt, it will position Senator Paul as the frontrunner in my opinion.

OK, back to the original idea of this post. The Bryan Eppstein faction of the Tarrant County Republican Party with the help of liberal Star Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy is pushing this Keeping Tarrant County Red idea, stating that the Paul Bots (a term of endearment of the Ron Paul supporters) are taking over the Party.

I will only go into detail here in the part of NE Tarrant County that I know the best….HD98 and the race between Giovanni and Truitt. The two largest Tea Party groups in the area are the Boiling Point Tea Party of Keller and the NE Tarrant County Tea Party (NETTP) that meets in Southlake. I know both of the organizations very well and know thier leaders also.

We will start with the Boiling Point Tea Party. It was formed in 2009 by Marie Howard who still runs the organization to today. She has volunteered countless hours to make her organization a very strong political force in the area. Marie is a ardent Rick Santorum supporter, and in fact hosted the only Presidential candidate to come to Keller this election cycle when Santorum came to speak at the Keller Pointe (an event that I attended). To state that Marie is the antithisist of a Paul Bot is the understatement of the century…..Marie was on on the SD9 Convention Nominations committee that decided who was going to the GOP State Convention, and I witnessed first hand her fighting the Ron Paul nominations to the Convention. To say she has a dislike for Ron Paul supporters is an understatement of the n’th degree.

The Boiling Point Tea Party PAC is supporting Giovanni……and they intend to keep Tarrant County Red.

The NETTP was formed by Julie McCarty and Konni Burton (sensing a trend? Yes, most of the leaders and members of the Tea Party movement are very powerful women. Something you won’t read about in the local paper). Julie is also a Rick Santorum supporter, in fact she brought Rick to Southlake to speak the same day Marie was bringing him to Keller. She travelled extensively around the country working for Santorum with her daughter and her husband Fred. Konni is a Gingrich supporter and worked for his campaign locally. Neither are Ron Paul supporters.

The NETTP PAC is supporting Giovanni and they intend to keep Tarrant County Red.

Know this when you are going to vote tomorrow, the last 24 hours is going to be brutal. My guess is there will be paid union firemen in Red T-Shirts with “Keep Tarrant Red” T-Shirts handing out push cards trying to make it appear that the Bryan Eppstein clients are to the right of the Tea Party endorsed candidates. They will probably accuse conservative candidates of Pro Gay Marriage, Pro Pot Legalization and so forth. They have already been doing this in the Jonathan Stickland race over the last few days. It is their only chance in far right NE Tarrant County.

How do I know this? Bud Kennedy tweeted this today: A late “Keep Tarrant County Red” effort is opposing the takeover by the Ron Paul backers endorsed by Tea Party groups. May be too late.

That and his column on Friday show a coordinated effort. To all conservative candidates…watch your right flank. It’s the only way they can win.