Song Adopted by Cain’s Campaign = Tea Party Anthem

If the Tea Party had a theme song, it would be written in the key of common people crying out for accountability. It might rail against the hypocrisy of elites who lecture others about tolerance. It would chastise politicians who stuff their pockets while refusing to listen to those who elected them.

It would, in short, be something like “I Am America,” an anti-establishment anthem recorded 18 months ago by Krista Branch and written by her husband, Michael. She has performed the song at Glenn Beck rallies, on Fox News shows and at several Tea Party events, including one on Saturday for Herman Cain, a Republican presidential candidate, who a few months ago adopted the song for a campaign that is now receiving intense attention as he surges in recent polls.

“The first time I heard that song, the message was so right-on I felt goose bumps just listening to it,” Mr. Cain said in an interview after the campaign rally on Saturday that drew several hundred supporters to this town in eastern Tennessee. “It captured this whole citizen’s movement that a lot of people were — and some still are — in denial of,” he said.

The song is gaining additional attention as the spotlight on Mr. Cain intensifies. Like the Tea Party itself, the song was born out of frustration with politics as usual, and out of personal hardship and a burning desire for self-sufficiency that has changed the lives of the people behind it.

The song’s growing popularity has brought the Branches a measure of attention.

“It’s been a rallying cry,” Mrs. Branch said. “I’ve gotten so many e-mails from people saying, ‘You are expressing exactly what I’ve been feeling for a long time.’ ”

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