Despite Republicans' ascension to Senate control and an expanded House majority, many conservatives from the party's activist wing fear that congressional leaders are already being too timid with President Obama.
They do not want to hear that government shutdowns are off the table or that repealing the Affordable Care Act is impossible — two things Republican leaders have said in recent days.
"If the new Republican leadership in the Senate is only talking about what they can't do, that's going to be very demoralizing," said Thomas J. Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group that convenes a regular gathering called Groundswell. Any sense of triumph at its meeting last week was fleeting.
"I think the members of the leadership need to decide what they're willing to shut down the government over," Mr. Fitton said.
Establishment Republicans, who had vowed to thwart the Tea Party, succeeded in electing new lawmakers who are, for the most part, less rebellious. And when the new Congress convenes in January, the Republican leaders who will take the reins will be mainly in the mold of conservatives who have tried to keep the Tea Party in check.
But they have not crushed the movement's spirit.
Some conservatives believe that the threat of another shutdown is their strongest leverage to demand concessions on the health care law and to stop the president from carrying out immigration reform through executive order. Yet their leadership has dismissed the idea as a suicide mission that could squander the recent gains.
"I understand the frustrations of the conservative base; I am one of them," said Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of the original class of Tea Party-inspired senators. "I also recognize reality."
"We're not going to pass the entire conservative agenda tomorrow. We can certainly lay it out," Mr. Johnson added. "Let's start with the things we can pass. Doesn't that make more sense?"
But in a stark reminder of the difficulties Republican leaders will face from within their own ranks, other lawmakers popular with the Tea Party base are saying the fight is on.
As votes were still being counted on election night Tuesday, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said Republicans could still work through Congress to dismantle the Affordable Care Act — even though the president is guaranteed to veto anything Congress passes that undermines it. "After winning a historic majority, it is incumbent on us to honor promises and do everything humanly possible to stop Obamacare," Mr. Cruz said in an interview.
Some Republican senators rejected that outright. "There are intelligent things to do, and there are some not-so-intelligent things to do," said Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah. "And one of the first things we should do is find some areas of common ground with our Democrat friends."
Tea Party conservatives, many of whom argue that the government shutdown last year was a sound strategy, said they were baffled by remarks after the election by Mr. McConnell that the Senate under his control would prioritize policies that Republicans knew Democrats would also support.
No one did more to demoralize Tea Party candidates and conservative agitators than Mr. McConnell, who vowed to "crush" every Republican primary challenger. (He did; none defeated an incumbent senator.) He also blacklisted Republicans who worked with groups supporting insurgents.
Privately, McConnell aides say they are less concerned these days about the impact of senators like Mr. Cruz, whom they describe as an "army of one."
He and his allies dismiss their Tea Party opponents as "for-profit conservatives" because of the fund-raising they do in the name of purifying the Republican brand.
"The for-profit wing of the Republican Party will always have a voice, but after this last election, they don't have much credibility," said Scott Reed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior political strategist. "I'm not sure many folks will listen to it much longer. Governing still matters, and the good news is, everybody who was elected is into governing."
