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Has the tea party sold out? House freshmen aren't who they seem.

A report by the arch-conservative Club for Growth undercuts the notion that freshmen House Republicans are unified 鈥� and uniformly committed to the most stringent tea party ideals.

The Republican freshmen are often lumped together as a uniform horde of Capitol Hill raiders, fiscal barbarians hammering on Washington鈥檚 gates. They sent the country to the brink of default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling; they throw sand in the gears of any legislative proposal that isn鈥檛 taking an ax to government spending.

At least that鈥檚 the conventional wisdom. But the arch-free marketeers at the Club for Growth think it just isn鈥檛 backed up by the freshman鈥檚 voting records, according to a .

鈥淭he liberal media likes to pretend that these Republicans have fought for fiscally conservative policies, but the facts don鈥檛 support their thesis,鈥� said Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth.

The survey shows a few interesting things about the House freshmen.

First, the freshmen class is not a rubber stamp for the most conservative proposals.听

Only 14 of the 87 freshmen signed a pledge to never raise the debt ceiling unless Congress enacted a conservative-favorite budget plan known as . A majority, too, voted against the聽most conservative House budget proposal, forwarded by聽Republican Study Committee.听

Second, they look a lot like their more tenured peers.听

The freshman horde averaged a 71 percent rating on the Club for Growth鈥檚 voting scorecard; the average Republican in Congress pulled in a 69 percent.

Put another way, only 18 of the 46 sitting members of Congress with lifetime scores of聽higher than 90 percent on the Club for Growth鈥檚 scorecard are freshmen (40 percent). That鈥檚 only a smidgen higher than the freshmen class鈥檚 overall representation in the Republican caucus (36 percent).听

Third, despite this political breadth, the freshman聽class has offered up an outsized number of the caucus鈥檚 most conservative members.

Six of the eleven members with scores of 99 percent or higher are freshmen: Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan (100), Tim Huelskamp of Kansas (100), Raul Labrador of Idaho (100), Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina (99), Joe Walsh of Illinois (99), Marlin Stutzman of Indiana (99).

To understand what this means for Election 2012 and beyond, you need to understand who the Club for Growth is.

At the top of their freshman report, they鈥檝e got a speedometer-shaped dial with four different icons.

At 20 miles per hour, you鈥檝e got Democrats. At about 45 m.p.h., you鈥檝e got RINOs 鈥� Republicans In Name Only. At 65 m.p.h., regular ol鈥� Republicans. At 85 m.p.h., the the Gadsen flag (鈥淒on鈥檛 tread on me鈥�) that is the hallmark of the tea party. And somewhere around 鈥淐an my Subaru really go that fast?鈥� on the bottom right is the Club for Growth.

Raise the debt ceiling? Forget it. Roll back discretionary spending to 2006 levels? Yup, they鈥檙e for it. 聽聽

Financially, the club is as hardcore as they come.

And it doesn't see聽its work as anywhere near done.

By putting out a report highlighting that Congress has been far from overrun by proponents of the Club鈥檚 free market policies, the group puts an emphasis on what has to happen next: Winning more races.

In this cycle, for example, the club poured money into taking out moderate Sen. Dick Lugar (R) of Indiana and then helped damage the candidate blessed by the Republican establishment in the GOP鈥檚 Nebraska Senate primary. (An upstart with tea party credentials emerged victorious,聽although not the candidate preferred by the club.)

The job of remaking Congress, according to one of the most influential activist groups in Washington, has a long way to go.