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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Nearly a dozen tea party candidates, including one of Kentucky's most recognizable fiscal conservatives, have set their sights on state legislative seats up for election this year.

Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, who finished second in the GOP's three-way gubernatorial primary last year, delivered candidacy papers last week to run for a House seat, hoping to bolster the tea party's foothold in the state Capitol.

Such a move has been slower in coming to Kentucky than other states.

Kentucky tea party activists have been so focused on federal issues in the past, Moffett said, that they're only now beginning to flex their muscle at the state level.

"I'm happy to see it," he said. "A lot of the problems we have at the federal level are mirrored at the state and local level."

The goal is to press elected leaders to cut spending, reduce the size of government, chip away at the state debt, and slash taxes. Moffett said tea party lawmakers, if elected, could collectively push the General Assembly in that direction.

The tea party has won victories and suffered defeats in Kentucky over the past couple of years. The movement was the muscle behind U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's election in 2010. Paul was transformed in little more than a year from being a little-known Bowling Green eye doctor to political heavyweight in a little more than a year thanks to a groundswell of support for his small government message.

Moffett, then a newcomer to politics, tried to capitalize on that same message last year in his race for governor, but was unable to get past establishment Republican David Williams, the longtime state Senate president.

The legislative runs will be the Kentucky tea party's next challenge. Victories could signal that the movement that helped propel Republicans into control of the U.S. House of Representatives remains alive and well in Kentucky.

Chris Hightower of Auburn, a former campaign aide to Paul, is running for a seat in the Kentucky House. Hightower was Paul's spokesman who resigned early in the campaign because someone had posted a racial slur on his MySpace page that he had failed to delete.

Hightower said he's hopeful more tea party candidates will file in coming week.

"I'm surprised there's not more grassroots citizens filing for these seats," he said.

The tally of tea party candidates is small considering 100 House seats and 19 Senate seats are up for election.

Tea party state Rep. Mike Harmon, R-Danville, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Moffett last year, predicted a political climate in Kentucky that would favor tea party candidates.

"I think it's obviously a good year for conservatives," Harmon said. "President Obama lost Kentucky last time and he still has a lot of negatives here that could cause more conservatives to come out and vote."

House Republican Floor Leader Jeff Hoover said political newcomers have jumped into legislative races because they're tired of contentious partisan politics that most recently was reflected in a redistricting battle that has spilled over into the court system.

"We think we have a really good chance of picking up a significant number of seats," Hoover said. "People are frustrated with the process, and they're interested in getting involved to improve the process. Quite honestly, I believe the actions in this redistricting and the abuse of power has gotten some people fired up about getting involved in the process."

Tea party activist David Adams, campaign manager for Moffett's gubernatorial bid and for Paul's Republican primary race, said the movement remains alive and well in Kentucky.

"With candidates like Phil Moffett in Louisville, David Glauber in Shepherdsville and Tiffany Nash in Richmond leading the way, the class of 2013 in the House will wear the old guard out," Adams said. "Tea party candidates will be serious about ending special perks for the political class. They aren't interested in building little kingdoms for themselves and don't want a seat on the government gravy train. That's a very powerful message, and I think the political establishment should consider themselves very fortunate to have been able to carry on unimpeded for so long."

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)