The Hill News

The Tea Party movement will look to make its footprint in the 2012 Republican presidential primaries by co-hosting a debate with CNN next year.

Tea Party Express, one of the largest umbrella organizations for the grassroots political activists, will host a debate the week of Labor Day 2011 in Tampa Bay, Fla., the cable network announced Friday.

“Over the past two years, the American people have engaged in the political process like no other time in history. The Tea Party movement continues to grow and will play an even greater role in the 2012 elections,” said Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer. “The debate will give presidential candidates an opportunity to focus on the issues near and dear to the Tea Party and our supporters across the country.”

The Tea Party made its impact felt throughout GOP congressional primaries in 2010, knocking off a number of establishment incumbents and candidates in favor of more conservative, in! surgents in the mold of the Tea Party movement.

One of the big questions facing the movement now is how it will interact with Republicans in control of the House and resurgent in the Senate and whether or not it will replicate its impact in the GOP primaries in 2012.

Already this week, during the debate over President Obama's tax-cut deal, Republican contenders for the 2012 nomination split over the package. Possible candidates such as Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. John Thune (S.D.) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich all backed the deal, allying themselves with Republican leaders in Congress.

Other contenders, such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Sarah Palin, Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) opposed the deal, in a bow toward conservative elements of the GOP, such as the Tea Party.