Maine's "Tea Party coup": a full report

I spent much of yesterday reporting a proper story on how the historically moderate Maine Republican Party came to pass a new Tea Party-backed platform at their convention this weekend. Curiously, it appears largely a spontaneous act by the delegates, many of whom had never had a chance to read it prior to its presentation to the floor.

You can read what I learned over at The Christian Science Monitor.

Here, also, are links to the new Maine GOP platform (Word document) and the old platform (which had been proposed for renewal.)

[Update: 1600 EST: Mainers may be interested in this peculiar side note from the Forecaster regarding how the group that sponsored the new platform -- the Knox County Republicans -- conducted themselves in the public school classroom they were loaned during the convention. Also, later, Bill Nemitz comments in his Press Herald column.]

[Update: 1700 EST: A sampling of national blogospheric thinking on this story from The Week, Red State, Politico, Washington Monthly, and Matthew Yglesias.]