RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- More than 2,300 people signed up to attend the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Convention in Richmond, organizers said.
Invited speakers included Republican Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, who drew applause Friday when he told Tea Party activists he favors an amendment to let states vote to overturn laws enacted by Congress, The Washington Post reported.
McDonnell spoke ahead of this weekend's events, and organizers said they don't want it to appear establishment politics control the movement.
"Some number of elected officials make sense, but we don't want to come off like this is the establishment,'' said Dan Arnold, chairman of the Manassas Tea Party. "Our job is to hold the establishment accountable."
The Tea Party is more a movement than a political entity, McDonnell said.
"Now, I realize the tea party is a movement -- it is not a political party per se,'' McDonnell said. "But I think it's important to engage people that were largely Republican and frankly may have lost confidence because they saw some Republicans get elected, not govern as fiscal conservatives, come up with more big-government solutions or higher taxes, more regulation, and they got disenchanted."
Organizers said the two-day convention is the largest such gathering in the nation, but don't want it to appear Republicans are controlling it.
"There's enthusiasm that the politicians are willing to come and participate on panels and do it differently than it's usually done," said Jamie Radtke, chairwoman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation, and the convention's lead organizer. "People want to engage with their representatives … what we're looking for as a tea party is to get substantive answers to important questions."
