Elected Tuesday with the support of Tea Partiers and pledging deep cuts to federal government, Frank Guinta will soon be one of many freshman House Republicans left to figure out where the fledgling movement fits within the halls of Congress.

The former Manchester mayor has said he would join a House Tea Party Caucus created this summer by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota. So far, the caucus counts 52 members and represents the first formal organizing of the movement at a congressional level.

Sergio Gor, Bachmann's spokesman, described the caucus members as "constitutional conservatives."

"It's people who believe the government's got too big, taxes are too high and really government should get out of the way," Gor said.

The Tea Party cause gained momentum shortly after President Obama took office last year, driven by a nationwide movement of activists espousing an anti-tax, limited government philosophy.

Though Guinta didn't openly tout his Tea Party support in commercials or debates, he promoted getting rid of the federal departments overseeing education and energy among other cuts to governmental functions not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

During the Republican primary, he easily won a straw poll held by the New Hampshire Tea Party Coalition, taking 81 percent of the vote. Guinta's margin of victory over his Republican challengers was the most decisive of any contest featured in the Tea Party poll.

Guinta said at the time that he was honored by the results of the straw poll and cited his attendance at several Tea Party events, as well as gatherings for the 9/12 movement started by Fox News commentator Glenn Beck.

Dante Scala, chairman of the political science department at the University of New Hampshire, said that compared with Charlie Bass, the Republican elected Tuesday to his former 2nd District seat, Guinta is more beholden to the Tea Party movement because of the support he received during his campaign.

"In some ways, you've got to dance with the people who brung ya'," Scala said. "This will be where the rubber hits the road as far as how far he'll take some of the strands of the Tea Party."

Bass does not plan to join the Tea Party Caucus, spokesman Scott Tranchemontagne said.

"As Charlie pointed out, a caucus in Washington is kind of antithetical to what the Tea Party is all about," Tranchemontagne said. "He recognizes, in respect to the Tea Party, it is not about a caucus in Washington - it's about people on the streets of New Hampshire and across the country."

A caveat-based approach to the newly formed caucus was also taken by Guinta's primary challengers Sean Mahoney and Rich Ashooh.

Ashooh told the New Hampshire Union Leader the movement had been successful because it had not been co-opted by Washington, and he would only join the caucus if "they sincerely focused on lowering taxes and limiting government."

Mahoney said he would join "if it supports lower taxes, constitutional principles and less government."

George Lovejoy, a former state senator who heads the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition, a member group of the state Tea Party Coalition, said he would support Guinta joining the Tea Party Caucus.

"I think that that's something he should do - have conversations with people who want to get the country back on track," Lovejoy said. "That's what we elected him for."

Lovejoy described Tea Partiers as people with "a great patriotic fervor and a belief in the free enterprise system."

"I don't know how anyone could disagree with that," he said.

Bachmann's caucus is remarkable for elevating what has been considered a grassroots movement onto a congressional platform. But whether it will actually affect policy is unknown. House caucuses are organized around topics that range from Algerians to songwriting, and they meet with varying frequency and depth. (next page »)