Coming from behind and catapulting into political stardom in a matter of months, Joni Ernst, the Republican candidate for the Iowa Senate seat who is pitted against Democrat Rep. Bruce Braley, is now hailed as the harbinger of the Tea Party's revival.

Ernst dropped by Thursday morning at the monthly lunch meeting of the Tea Party, an elite group of political insurgents who shook the nation's political climate in 2009 with their conservative populist stance, which has long favored Ernst for her strong conservative principles.

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The party endorsed her during Iowa's Republican Senate primary.

Much of Ernst powerful political presence stems from a relatable life history and dynamic personality. But she has also been touted as one of the rare Republicans who has true conservative, albeit extreme, political positions.

For one, she supports thorny issues that CNN suggests fall well out of mainstream opinion.

These include personhood legislation that essentially seeks to outlaw some forms of birth control, the banning of same-sex marriage, impeachment of President Barack Obama, and the Agenda 21 conspiracy theory that claims the United Nations has plans of usurping democracy.

Ernst also opposes a national minimum wage and believes it should be based on local state economies, CNN said in an earlier report.

If elected, the Tea Party darling is likely to evolve into one of the most conservative senators in the country, Mother Jones observed.

As the closely watched Senate race heads to its closing days, the one-time state senator has set a wider lead against Braley: 49/45 percent split among likely voters in the Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

The same poll gave Ernst a two percentage point advantage against her opponent last week.

Ernst is running against Braley in a closely fought Senate seat vacated by retiring Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin. The respected senator has held the position since 1974.

Ernst boasts one of the dramatic successes in this year's midterm elections.

She was relatively unknown until she ran a TV ad earlier this year in which she said she knows how to cut pork because she was a farm girl who grew up castrating pigs. Ernst went on to claim a decisive victory against three GOP candidates and has become one of the highest-profile Tea Party favorites.

TagsJoni Ernst, Bruce Braley, Senate midterm elections, politics, Tea Party movement, Iowa