The Tea Party’s start was in the disorganized “street” rallies that became its iconic symbol - but, almost immediately after delivering in 2010 what the “formal” GOP couldn’t (election victories at both the state and federal level), it largely got off the street and into much-more-organized “conventional” political activity such as pestering legislators as key votes approached in Raleigh. The “street” rallies almost immediately got much smaller in attendance - or even just weren’t held at all any more in some cities and had much smaller attendance in the others they still were held in. That necessitated a major change in covering it.
It was very hard to tell whether the “formal” GOP had coopted the Tea Party or the reverse - but continued coverage of the movement meant having good sources within it rather than depending on roadside signs announcing “street” rallies. I developed such a source at the level that the Tea Party and “formal” GOP merged here in central N.C. - while staying in close touch with the veterans of the “street” rallies for the considerable information they still provided.
In Feb. 2011 - right after the inauguration of the new politicians it had elected - the Tea Party did the first of its new-style activities here in central N.C., picketing the Greensboro office of Sen. Kay Hagan, who had generally sided with Pres. Obama and who had voted for Obamacare; both were highly unpopular in this state. Only a couple dozen were present - very unlike the “street” rallies downtown that had turned out hundreds each.
On Aug. 7, 2014, the Tea Party again picketed Sen. Hagan’s Greensboro office (below) - with about the same number present. Like the first time in 2011, those involved crowded into Sen. Hagan’s office itself before picketing outside the building. This time, however, she was facing reelection - and in a close match - in only a couple months.

A Tea Party member pickets Sen. Kay Hagan’s office in Greensboro, N.C., Aug. 7, 2014.
One of my photos from a 2012 Tea Party rally was published on a paid basis in the Scandinavian news magazine Illustreret Videnskab Historie.