Christine O'Donnell Headlines N. Va. Tea Party Banquet

In Virginia, the Northern Virginia Tea Party is trying to maintain momentum after the 2010 election cycle. The group is hoping a high profile guest speaker at its second annual banquet may have helped things.

Christine O'Donnell may have suffered a convincing defeat in her effort to win one of Delaware's Senate seats. But as the keynote speaker at Tuesday night's Northern Virginia Tea Party banquet, she wasn't shying away from high-flying rhetoric as she addressed the crowd of more than 200 people.

"This is the second American Revolution," O'Donnell said.

But she also urged local tea partiers to learn lessons from her campaign: specifically, to make sure to unite conservatives after bruising primaries and to realize that there will be losses before the war for America's soul, as the Tea Party sees it, is through.

"I think we're about three or four or maybe five or six election cycles from restoring America to what she was," O'Donnell told the crowd. "But we have to."

Fairfax Tea Partier Jeanne Carr says O'Donnell is impressive, but a work in progress.

"I think she has a lot of potential," Carr says. "I still think she's young and probably needs more experience."

O'Donnell was actually a replacement speaker. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was the first choice, but had a scheduling conflict.