Contact: Bob Sturm, 703-396-6974; after 6 PM Eastern & on weekends, Bob Sturm, 703-307-8176; Vi Shields, 703-906-6542; ConservativeHQ.com  

DALLAS, Jan. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, delivered the keynote address at the January 29 meeting of the Leadership Tea Party, a conservative grassroots training event, at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Westin Hotel.

Viguerie praised the Tea Party movement for providing new energy to conservative grassroots throughout the nation.

"You've brought fresh, new reinforcements into the battle against big, corrupt government," he told the group.

Viguerie credited the Tea Party for helping stop many liberal initiatives from quickly being enacted into law.

"If there had been no Tea Party opposition to the President's legislative program, Obamacare, Cap and Trade, Union Card Check, and much more federal spending would probably have been enacted into law in 2009," he said.

Viguerie told the Tea Party leaders that they should work to be a third force in politics but should not try to organize themselves into a third party. "A third party would be a disaster for the cause of limited government," he warned.

Tea Party members and other grassroots conservatives should focus exclusively on the 2010 Republican and Democratic primaries, he said.

"Don't think about 2012 at all. In fact, don't even think about November 2010. Your focus should be to challenge every establishment Republican and Democrat in all federal, state, and local races," Viguerie emphasized.

"Our country didn't get into the mess we're in because of the policies and skills of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, or Harry Reid. The people who are responsible for handing power to the liberals in 2006 and 2008 are George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, Bill Frist, and other GOP leaders. The disastrous policies of the big government Republicans caused the voters to want to fire all Republicans," he said.

"Unfortunately, most conservative leaders just kept quiet while Bush, Rove, DeLay, Hastert, and Frist ran full speed ahead with all their spending and deficits. But Tea Party activists are different. You believe in principles, not just political power. What a tremendous improvement," Viguerie exclaimed.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called "one of the creators of the modern conservative movement" (The Nation magazine) and one of the "conservatives of the century" (The Washington Times). He is the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause.