newb question on processes [Don't activate]

sry if I didnt search correctly for this, but I could find nothing on either google or here.

How do I send a command in applescript to a process in the background. Such as if I have textedit for example behind a safari window which is selected.
I want to send a tell to textedit but not have to activate it first. This is my first applescript project so any and all help is greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Hail

How about this?

tell application "TextEdit"
	launch
	-- whatever
end tell

AppleScript Language Guide: Launch

Oops - never mind. Made a silly mistake so I removed it.