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The Tea Party activists characterize their movement as grassroots, energetic and growing in size, but organized or unified? Those are not words used very often to discuss a movement divided among national and local chapters across the country.

But Thursday a broad coalition of national and regional Tea Party groups are announcing the formation of the National Tea Party Federation (NTPF). According to a statement from the Tea Party Express, one of the groups participating, the federation is being "established to create a unified message and media response amongst key leadership and their affiliates."

Tea Party leaders say the federation will also serve as a clearinghouse and will be used to promote the movement's objectives, which they say are "fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.

The creation of the federation is being announced at a Tea Party Express rally Thursday morning in St. Paul, Minnesota. The rally is part of the Tea Party Express's third national bus tour, which is scheduled to end on April 15. The Tax Day event is expected to draw various tea party and conservative groups to the nation's capital, and to other rallies expected to be held across the country.

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Alabama State treasurer candidate George Wallace Jr. has attended several tea party events. What he hears sounds like what he heard standing in campaign crowds when his late father, Gov. George C. Wallace, was running for president on a platform of "Stand Up for America."

The various tea parties in the state may have an impact in this year's statewide elections but have yet to take on the trappings of a political organization. None of the dozens of tea party groups has registered as a political action committee, which would allow them to raise money and contribute to campaigns.

The groups disagree over whether they even want to endorse candidates.

Retired coal miner J.R. "Working Man" Hammond of McCalla organized the small chapter Guardians of America in the Birmingham area.

"The only thing that unites millions of Americans is we hate the Democratic Party," he said.

But the animosity has consequences for the Republican Party, too.

After 5th District Rep. Parker Griffith of Huntsville switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP in December, the Huntsville Tea Party criticized House Minority Leader John Boehner for appearing at a fundraiser for Griffith.

That's because many Tea Party members like Griffith's opponents in the Republican primary on June 2.

Retired engineer Justin Holland of Madison, organizer for the North Alabama Patriot Tea Party, sums up the situation: "We know who we are against. We don't know quite who we are for yet."

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