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House Speaker John Boehners tenure as the top Republican in Congress has not been smooth. He has sparred with a combative Democratic president and a Democratic Senate. He has been attacked by conservatives in his own party who think him insufficiently ideological, and he has had to deal with constant rumors that his top lieutenant, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), is plotting to steal his speakership.

And that is when he is not dealing with rumors of his own resignation.

But Boehners latest challenge is more direct, a full-on assault from tea party activists back home in his Ohio congressional district, where Boehner faces three challengers in a May 6 primary. One of those is a young high school French teacher named J.D. Winteregg, who is getting support from a national organization that has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into advertisements, billboards and direct mail aimed at persuading voters to drop the speaker of the House.

Im fed up with him. Im fed up with the fact that hes never home, fed up with the fact that hes never accessible, Winteregg, 32, said in an interview. Its rare that I meet someone thats for Boehner. The first thing they usually say is, Hes been there too long. And the second thing they say is, Lets throw all the bums out.

Winteregg is a political novice who has never sought elected office. He has raised just $43,000 for his campaign, less than 1 percent of the $5.5 million Boehner has raised for his principal campaign account. But the outside group, the Tea Party Leadership Fund, has spent almost $320,000 on voter communications opposing Boehner and backing Winteregg. The groups chairman, radio host Rusty Humphries, said they interviewed a number of candidates before deciding to back Winteregg.

[Winteregg] reminds me of a young reformer back 24 years ago. There was this guy John Boehner who was going to reform things; he was going to change things, Humphries said. Boehner hasnt been doing the job that the people of Ohio sent him there to do. They sent him there to be a strong conservative voice.

Primary challenges are nothing new for Boehner. Since winning his seat, which includes several suburban and rural counties north of Cincinnati along the Indiana border, he has won five contested primaries. In 2010, he beat two challengers and took 85 percent of the vote. Two years later, he won 84 percent of Republican voters against a single challenger.

But Boehner knows this year is different in at least one regard: Unlike 2010, when now-Sen. Rob Portmans campaign was running get-out-the-vote operations, or 2012, when Republican presidential candidates were battling for delegates, there is no high-stakes race on the ballot this primary season. Gov. John Kasich (R) is unopposed in his bid for renomination, and neither Ohio Senate seat is up for grabs.

Incumbents are most vulnerable in low-turnout elections, when voters motivated by opposition to sitting members of Congress can turn out in higher proportions than those who favor the status quo. So Boehner, who is used to shelling out campaign cash to fellow Republicans around the country, is spending some of his own money.

The campaign has spent $297,000 on television ads running in both the Cincinnati and Dayton media markets, according to filings made with local television stations. Boehner has two campaign offices open, one in his hometown of West Chester and another satellite office in Miami County, farther north.

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Tea party attacks Boehner at home