The Tea Party is dead.Or at least that’s what it looked like Saturday. But activists at a sparsely-attended a morning health care rally held in Colorado Springs said its more like a sleeping giant.The El Paso County Tea Party, activists say, is waiting quietly in the wings, ready to pounce on the Colorado political scene like a tiger. While the Tea Party has dropped from the national spotlight and in Colroado Springs has lower profile that during its heyday in the 2010 election cycle, that doesn’t mean the movement is dead and buried.That may have been hard to believe for anyone who showed up to Saturday’s rally — the gymnasium at The Da Vinci Academy, where the meeting was held, was three-quarters empty. Sixty people showed up. Two years ago, such events were usually packed to the brim, overflowing with furious locals.“It’s a river that’s gone underground,” said local activist and blogger Al Maurer. “We held big parades and made lots of noise, and no one listened to us, so we started doing different things.”Maurer and others contended that Tea Partiers and those in the “liberty movement,” as they call it, have been showing up in force at the Republican party caucuses and assemblies.“That’s where it counts,” Maurer said.The rally was organized by Tea Party officials to help inform members on how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — called Obamacare by critics — operates, how health care exchanges work, and what effect the new state health exchange will have.The state exchange, established by a controversial bill in 2011, has become a central issue in the GOP primary campaign between Rep. Marsha Looper, of Calhan, and House Majority Leader Amy Stephens, from Monument. Stephens sponsored the exchange bill, and Tea Partiers have been furious with her ever since.Colorado Springs activist Jax Bubis, who loudly denounced health care exchanges during the rally, smiled in amusement when asked if the Tea Party had fizzled out.“It’s as alive as it ever was, if not more so,” she said.Bubis said Saturday’s low attendance meant nothing. Many people were at the St. Patrick’s Day parade, and chose parties over health care policy for the day.Mary Ann Robertson, co-founder of the Colorado Patriots, said there’s a “lot of activity that’s been going on behind the scenes.”There was more than one person at the rally who was wearing a pin from the 57th Patriot Alliance, a brand-new liberty group founded within the last two months. The founder, Charles Knight, said he wanted to follow the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. He would have loved to have been the 57th, as would all of his supporters.Knight charges $17.76 for a pin (note the symbolism), and a customer’s change includes a $2 bill, which features former President Thomas Jefferson.And he already has chapters in four other states.—Contact John Schroyer: 476-4825Twitter @JohnschroyerFacebook Gazette John Schroyer