By Jake Sherman, Politico.com
BALTIMORE — And on the final day, they heard from the tea party.
House Republicans spent the last three days at their annual issues conference here pleased with their very public tit-for-tat with President Barack Obama and expressing confidence in their political position.
But on Saturday, when the television cameras were largely packed away and with most reporters heading south on a snowy I-95, House Republicans heard from Dick Armey, a de facto leader of the tea party movement that could prove key to the GOP’s high hopes for November’s midterm elections.
In a closed-door session at a harbor-side hotel here, Armey, a Republican House member for 18 years and now leader of the conservative group FreedomWorks, all but guaranteed huge Republican gains in 2010. He told lawmakers that the party has more “entrepreneurial assets” than it had in 1994 — a legendary midterm election when the GOP gained 54 seats in the House and recaptured the majority, aided by the Contract With America that Armey helped author.
To win in November Republicans will have to overcome negative perceptions about their leadership style during the later part of the Bush era, Armey said, but he expressed confidence in House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), saying he “led it back in 1994, and he can do it again today.”
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