Maddow: Tea Party backlash could hurt GOP in November

On Tuesday night's edition of "The Rachel Maddow Show," host Rachel Maddow brought up what could be an important factor in the 2012 election, a topic that has not thus far been discussed a great deal. The fact is that the repercussions from the last major election cycle in 2010 are still very much being felt, and not necessarily in a good way.

Three of the big Tea Party success stories of 2010 were the elections of Republican Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida and Ohio's John Kasich. All three governors quickly embarked upon an agenda of undercutting the power of their states' labor unions, and a slash-and-burn approach to their state budgets, measures which just as quickly caused their approval ratings to plummet.

In Pennsylvania and Mississippi, right-wing governors have signed highly restrictive abortion bills into law. These measures are a far cry from the ticket of fiscal conservatism and small government that the Tea Party ran on. According to a recent Washington Post/ABC poll, interest in the Tea Party, particularly among women, has reached an all time low.

The question, according to Maddow, is whether the backlash against these far right demagogues in the state-houses of swing states like Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and even Wisconsin will doom Republican electoral hopes in November, all the way up "to the top of the ticket."

Watch this clip, embedded via MSNBC, below:

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(image of Rachel Maddow via MSNBC screen grab)