Tea Party leader: Birth-control fight will 'invigorate' base

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler warned that the president's move to require insurance companies to eliminate co-pays on contraception would "invigorate the Tea Party" in 2012.

"One of the fundamental tenets of the Tea Party is constitutionally limited government, and really they're intruding on the Constitution in the most fundamental way, they're intruding on the right to religious freedom," Meckler said during an interview Monday on Fox News. "They think it's a big deal. I think it's a big deal."

Meckler said Tea Party activists were already hoping to exert their influence in the coming elections, and acknowledged issues like the recent contraceptive fight could draw supporters back into the movement.

"Every issue like this can invigorate the Tea Party," Meckler said.

"You're going to see a much bigger Tea Party wave in 2012 than you did in 2010," he predicted.

Meckler also praised presumptive Republican front-runner Mitt Romney for emphasizing his conservative bona fides while speaking last Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, despite concerns from some Tea Party activists that the former Massachusetts governor might not be authentic enough in his conservative views.

"I do think he's striking the right tone," Meckler said. "This is what people want to hear. They want to hear him speaking the language of conservatives; they want something to hold him to in 2012."

Meckler went on to say that while Romney might not be winning over skeptics, he was making promises that he would have to be accountable for if he were to win the presidency.

"I don't think anybody's convinced. I don't think anybody's looking to be convinced," Meckler said. "I think people are listening, they're going to take stock of this, they're going to keep it in the back of their mind when they go to the polls, and again, they're going to hold people accountable after they've been elected."

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