Tea Party Nation Cancels Las Vegas Convention

(Sept. 20) -- What happens in Vegas ... well, never mind.

A prominent tea party group has abruptly canceled its plans to hold a convention in Las Vegas that was to begin Oct. 14, Washington Monthly and TPM report.

Billed as the National Tea Party Unity convention, the event was sponsored by the Tea Party Nation, was to be held at the Mirage Hotel & Casino and was to feature such prominent speakers as Sharron Angle, Andrew Breitbart and Lou Dobbs.

There is no longer any mention of the convention on Tea Party Nation's website, and when reached by phone, the Mirage Hotel had no booking information for the event.

Tea Party Nation originally postponed the dates of the convention from mid-July to mid-October citing the hot summer weather in Las Vegas:

We were so excited about the tremendous success of the first convention, we jumped into this second convention without considering the timing. The heat in Las Vegas in July is keeping many who would like to participate from attending.

Tea Party Nation has successfully organized national gatherings in the past. In February, for instance, the group's first national convention in Nashville, Tenn., drew a crowd of approximately 600 people who paid $549 to attend the three-day festivities, The New York Times reported. Of course, the keynote speaker of that gathering was Sarah Palin was paid a reported sum of $100,000 for delivering her speech. An additional 500 people attended and paid $349 just to hear Palin's remarks.