UPDATE Posted Friday, March 12, 2010 -- 5:23pm
By Zac Schultz

Wisconsin Dells: Tea partiers took over the Capitol for a day last April 15th, and they're taking over the Wisconsin Dells this weekend.

Mark Block is excited to see the Chula Vista Resort host more than 3,000 activists. On the agenda is a slate of conservative speakers from around the nation, and then workshops to keep the people engaged past this weekend. "In the afternoon tomorrow we have breakout sessions to give our activists the tools they need to be 24/7 activists."

Many of the attendees first got involved during last year's tea party rally at the Capitol. "You're going to see 65 different tea party groups from Wisconsin attending this tomorrow," says Block.

But this is not a tea party convention. Block is State Director of Americans For Prosperity and this is their annual summit. "The last time we held one of these events we had 750 people at, and now look at it."

This event has grown exponentially over the past couple years, in large part by harnessing the energy created at the tea party rallies. "We went from 250 members to January of last year about 18,000," says Block. "From last January to December we went from 18,000 to 54,000 members. That was due because of the tea party movement."

Block is expecting events like this one to translate into wins for fiscally conservative candidates this November. He says the big challenge is keeping those candidates responsive once they're in office. "Number one question I get asked day in, day out is how do you hold them accountable? It's going to be up to organizations like Americans For Prosperity to remind them what they ran on and hold them accountable."

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Posted Friday, March 12, 2010 --- 1:05 p.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Dozens of Wisconsin groups affiliated with the tea party movement will gather this weekend at a Wisconsin Dells resort to discuss strategy, hear from national conservative leaders and Republican office holders, and look ahead to how they can influence the 2010 elections.

The annual meeting organized by conservative group Americans for Prosperity has all the feel of a tea party convention, even though there is no such official party in Wisconsin.

The meeting comes roughly a year after the first tea party rallies were held across the country and in Wisconsin. Organizers say that since those rallies, the number of groups loosely affiliated with the tea party movement in Wisconsin has grown to 68.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.