Tea Party Momentum

I have been telling friends and family that the Tea Party enthusiasm is going to backfire on the conservatives. The Tea Party might be successful in getting their candidates win primaries, but in the general election this will help the democrats because mainstream America will simply not vote for the Tea Party candidates. They will either stay home or vote for democrats. But then comes the news that in the last quarter the republican candidates (including the Tea Party candidates) have raised more funds than the democrats and the democrats are really struggling ....Is my faith in mainstream America misplaced? I would be surprised if 'mainstream America' has moved this much to the right.