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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. In a chilly television studio, out of sight from the camera, Thom Tillis is waving a red card that says "rebuttal." A Republican rival for the U.S. Senate has just compared him to Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain btes noires of the right.

"Being conservative is something you do, not just say," Tillis says as the camera returns.

The speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, facing a strong tea party challenge, boasts of leading a "conservative revolution" that includes strict voter ID laws and rejecting an expansion of Medicaid.

Tillis' defense reflects North Carolina's status as the latest battleground in the struggle over the GOP's identity. After five years of being pushed hard right by grass roots activists, the establishment is pushing back.

It is confronting a tea party suffering from waning enthusiasm, controversial candidates and bad publicity, early signs of a shift in the movement that rocked politics and left a mark, from deep budget cuts to immigration and last fall's government shutdown.

A string of tea party hopefuls, from Texas to Tennessee, South Carolina to Kentucky, have failed to gain traction this year, slowed by their own shortcomings or overpowered by the orchestrated effort to prevent the next nomination of candidates like Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle or Richard Mourdock.

The GOP needs to pick up six seats nationally to take control of the Senate and North Carolina is the first in a monthlong series of contests in which the intraparty fight will play out.

A recent poll shows Tillis breaking the 40 percent mark to avoid a runoff in Tuesday's primary. A Tillis win and a showdown with vulnerable Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan would improve the GOP's chances.

"I do believe the other candidates represent a serious risk of being able to do our part to get the Senate to a majority," Tillis, 53, said in an interview.

At the same time, the necessity for Tillis to play up conservative credentials shows that while the tea party may be down, its influence remains.

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N.C. Senate primary gauges tea party influence on GOP identity