So if Bruning was the establishment candidate, Stenberg was the Tea Partier...what is/was Fischer?
Fischer was the Tea Partier, in the sense that she won the votes of the sort of people who vote Tea Party. Although Stenberg was portrayed as the Tea Party candidate by many, in the end he was considered too establishment by the average Nebraskan to really work as a Tea Party candidate (Stenberg's first serious run for statewide office was a run for Lieutenant Governor, in 1978 -- he came in fourth of five serious candidates). And Bruning was universally recognized as a moderate. Thus, Fischer became the Tea Partier by default, although some of the reports I've seen paint her ideologically as a second coming of Chuck Hagel.
