Rick Santelli CNBC Rant Triggers Immediate Koch Network Tea Party Response

CNBC reporter Rick Santelli delivers his “Rant Heard Round the World” from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange floor, criticizing Obama’s mortgage bailout plan and calling for a “Chicago Tea Party.” Within hours, Americans for Prosperity registers the domain TaxDayTeaParty.com and launches a website calling for protests. Other conservative organizations quickly follow: reTeaParty.com is registered within 10 hours, ChicagoTeaParty.com goes live within 12 hours, and FreedomWorks’s Eric Odom helps create a Facebook page by February 20th. The next day, 50 national conservative leaders participate in a conference call that formalizes the national Tea Party movement. This immediate, coordinated response demonstrates the pre-existing organizational infrastructure the Koch network had built to capitalize on populist moments.