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Marketing and public relations experts say what the company does in coming days will be key to preserving its image. Glenn Bunting, managing director for the Los Angeles-based crisis management firm Sitrick and Co. said SeaWorld needs to respond promptly and proactively. “They need to review every safety precaution,” he said. “They need to explain how it happened, why it happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again to reassure the public.” The company stumbled during its first post-attack press conference.

One of the nation’s more closely watched races in 2010, the March Republican primary for Governor of Texas, pits a sitting U.S. senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, against a sitting governor, Rick Perry. Judging by their first encounter Thursday night, broadcast statewide on PBS and nationally on C-SPAN2, they both lost to a Tea Party darling named Debra Medina. A gun totin’ and property rights supportin’ libertarian-Republican from the boondocks, Medina came off like Dick Cheney’s long lost twin sister.

Sarah’s the Tea Party queen of 2010. But are they a third party movement, Republican pest or Democratic gift? Who knows? But they’re representative of the mood out there right now, which is also hitting Martha Coakley in Massachusetts . Just don’t worry about Sarah Palin, because she’s got this all mapped out. Tea Party convention is in, but CPAC is out. Going rogue has paid off so far so why should Sarah stop now? The first time I heard about their convention it was through an ad on a conservative blog.

Establishment Republicans, take notice. The Tea Party is about to steal your thunder. According to a poll by Rasmussen Reports , likely voters in the 2010 congressional elections would rather cast a ballot for a candidate bearing the Tea Party brand than one on the Republican line. In a national survey of likely voters, Rasmussen asked respondents to choose their favored political party for the congressional contests in what pollsters call a generic ballot.

Joe Scarborough could be a great Republican presidential candidate in 2012, according to Republican strategist and media adviser Mark McKinnon. McKinnon appeared on Hardball With Chris Matthews Wednesday to talk about Mike Huckabee’s viability as a candidate in the 2012 presidential race in the wake of Sunday’s shootings . After arguing that Huckabee could not and would not win the presidency, McKinnon floated the names of Republican leaders who he believes could compete against President Obama in 2012.

One of the Republican Party’s most respected and relied-upon consultants has serious reservations about two the party’s biggest names. Alex Castellanos, a conservative media strategist and regular presence on CNN, raised questions of Sarah Palin’s viability for office and took major swipes at Florida Senate candidate Charlie Crist during an appearance at Bloomberg News’ Washington Summit Thursday. The harshest lines were saved for Crist, who Castellanos said was not really a Republican.

On this Veterans Day (and let me pause for a moment to salute the service of those who have honored us with their presence in the American Armed Forces, including my father, who served in the U.S. Navy over a half-century ago), we find it to be holiday-light in terms of the political news. We do have a couple of polls out there, and a handful of pretty darned interesting news items.

“I don’t want our schools turned over to some socialist movement.” It is now official; those looking for the latest GOP conspiracy theory, the latest mighty mental meltdown of the base, eagerly barked out by even the supposed leaders and purported respectable figures of the party, stroked and teased by conservative wings of the press that seem to have no pressing substance to deal with, anymore, compared to these small trinkets of insanity — those looking for that latest race-tinged, conspiracy-riddled drama need look no farther. We have it.

Never a dull moment this cycle. Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) will be resigning from the Senate, according to several senior Republican sources familiar with his thinking. He made the announcement at a morning staff meeting, where he said he will not be returning to the Senate after the August recess. Martinez announced he wasn’t seeking re-election to the Senate last December, but he had insisted that he would be serving out the remainder of his term, which expires in 2011.

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ian Millhiser and Nate Carlile To receive The Progress Report in your email inbox everyday, click here . This past week, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed the need for conservatives to embrace a “welcoming” attitude towards immigrants. Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño, considered to be “one of the most prominent Hispanic Republicans,” called on the GOP to rethink its hard-line positions on immigration.