Senator Jim Demint Tea Party Republican from South Carolina QUITS ( Archived) (9)

The Tea Party is dying a slow but steady death. "It's a far cry from the bravado of the Tea Party after its big gains in the 2010 midterm elections. But in this year's election, the Tea Party lost about one-sixth of its members.

A new survey in South Carolina — an early Tea Party hotbed — shows a decline in support as well. Winthrop University professor Scott Huffman says two years ago, more than 30 percent of South Carolina Republicans and voters leaning Republican said they were a Tea Party member. Today, he says, just 10 percent of those voters described themselves as members of the Tea Party.

National polls also show a decline. That means less fear of Tea Party retribution. A possible sign of that is a move by GOP leadership in Congress this week stripping four members who have bucked the leadership on key votes of their prime committee assignments. Among them is Tea Party caucus member Tim Huelskamp, a first-term congressman from Kansas who will no longer sit on the budget and agriculture committees."