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Were Tuesday's decisive primary losses in Missouri and Michigan the beginning of the end for the Tea Party? When it came to primaries, the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party was unable even to win over the Republican wing in places.

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A low-turnout primary election has caused havoc in Idaho’s Republican Party, with everything from Tea Party activism to social media hijinks contributing to such surprising results as the defeat of six sitting GOP lawmakers and an upset in the congressional race.

Among those losing their seats on Tuesday were state Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, a nine-term senator and chairman of the Senate Resources Committee, and state Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, a third-term senator and chairman of the Idaho Indian Affairs Council.

Schroeder lost to a Tea Party activist, prompting much speculation that the moderate Latah County district could fall to the Democrats in the November general election. Moderate state Sen. Chuck Coiner, R-Twin Falls, also was defeated in the primary, as were moderate state Sen. Lee Heinrich, R-Cascade; conservative state Rep. Steve Kren, R-Nampa; and conservative state Rep. Rich Jarvis, R-Meridian, who lost to the man he replaced, former Rep. John Vander Woude.

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Statewide, just 27 percent of registered voters went to the polls; in Kootenai County, the turnout was even lower, between 20 and 22 percent.

“There’s so much attention and so much focus, and yet the turnout is so low,” said Norm Semanko, Idaho Republican Party chairman, who said the turnout was his one big disappointment about the primary election.

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Will the balance of power in Washington and Madison shift with this fall’s elections?

That’s a tough call right now because we still don’t know who will be on the ballot in the November election. The party primary elections, to be held Sept. 7, will determine the candidates to represent each party in the November general election. A candidate who can win a primary because the party faithful loves him or her might also be a weak candidate in the November general election.

The thing is, even tea party activists haven’t decided which candidate they’ll support. Republican Party-endorsed businessman Ron Johnson came out of nowhere while counting on his alleged tea party—and right-wing talk radio—support. But tea partiers aren’t sold on him and the Republican endorsement he received isn’t necessarily helping him with the tea party crowd, which generally distrusts both established parties. Plus, Johnson will spend millions and millions of dollars on his race. In contrast, organic farmer David Westlake is running a grassroots campaign that’s more in tune with the movement, and tea partiers in his part of the state like him. Whether that’s enough to push him over the line is anyone’s guess.

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With the election season more than halfway over, the Tea Party movement has notched some impressive victories but also learned a hard lesson: There are limits to the power of its anger-fueled insurgency.

The movement scored a big win last week in South Carolina, where state Rep. Nikki Haley romped past a four-term congressman to win the GOP nomination for governor. Still, for all the attention the Tea Party has gotten and all the passion of its followers, a rough accounting at the ballot box shows the movement has just about as many losses as victories.

Money has been an impediment. Organization — or, rather, the lack of it — has become another.

''Just being a Tea Party candidate or being an outsider is not enough,'' said Nathan Gonzales, who tracks elections nationwide for the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. ''You have to have money to establish a level of credibility in order to win. You have to have an organization and a focus to have an effect.''

The two candidates who have arguably done the most to raise the party banner, Senate candidates Rand Paul in Kentucky and Sharron Angle in Nevada, were both well funded: Paul through supporters of his father, former Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul, and Angle through a hefty cash infusion from the anti-tax group Club for Growth.

Most Tea Party candidates have been less fortunate. In the California primary for U.S. Senate, GOP Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine was a favorite of the movement, but fell to the millions spent by wealthy businesswoman Carly Fiorina, a more mainstream Republican.

The Tea Party has yet to prove its long-term viability, or whether followers can accomplish more than raising a sizable ruckus. The key test will come in November, when movement-backed candidates test their appeal outside the friendly confines of a GOP primary, courting disaffected Democrats and, more importantly, independent voters

The losses, besides California, include races in Texas, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In part, that reflects the splintered nature of the movement.

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