The Utah Senate race

[New Mexican Disaster]

All right, I have to admit YOhio knows what he is talking about. It seems that Ichabod Bennett is in very real danger of getting taken out before the primary by Mike Lee, whose primary qualification is that he is related to his father?

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...delegates.html

[CardiacCoug]

All right, I have to admit YOhio knows what he is talking about. It seems that Ichabod Bennett is in very real danger of getting taken out before the primary by Mike Lee, whose primary qualification is that he is related to his father?

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...delegates.html

Did anybody else see the negative ad that Bennett ran about Mike Lee during Game 3 of Jazz-Nuggets? I wonder if he will run it again tonight.

[oxcoug]

I've been unimpressed by Lee.

just got a bit more interesting. Attorney Mike Lee just joined the primary race to challenge Senator Bennett. He came with an arsenal of endorsements; Norm Bangerter, Jim Hansen and Mark Shurtleff. I was shocked to see the former two oppose the establishments' candidate. Really shocked. Bangerter explained his endorsement thusly:



What a ringing endorsement!

Lee sounds like the typical Republican primary challenger to an incumbent. Founding fathers, lifetime politicians, etc. But he does come from a fantastic pedigree. He's the son of Rex Lee, former clerk to Samuel Alito and Dee Benson and GC to Huntsman. I think Bennett thought he had it made when Shurtleff dropped out, but Lee looks even more dangerous. If Lee can raise some quick cash, which I'm sure he can, it's going to be a fantastic race.

If one thing really concerns me about knocking out Bennett is that HAFB is always vulnerable in BRAC rounds. I can see Hatch likely retiring after his current term expires and Bishop doesn't appear to be someone who wants to stay in office forever. With two young Senators and a young Rep, one of Utah's largest employers could take a decent hit. I'm not sure when the next BRAC rounds will occur, but it will be something to keep an eye out for, especially if it occurs in this administration.

---------------------------------------------------
[posted the below on CB a few days back]

Lee seems like a nice enough guy. But I was hoping for someone a bit more substantive to challenge Bennett.

I'm not a Utahn so it's not my race I've just paid some distant attention to it. But I'm predisposed to pull for Lee's candidacy as his dad and my dad were college friends at BYU who then went to Chicago Law together and I've always admired his parents (and maybe I'm disappointed in part because I thought he'd be as impressive as his dad).

But that background is part of why I started checking out some of his videos and his public statements and have to say.... kind of underwhelmed. Seems to have a kind of robotic fixation on the Constitution - but never really say anything that insightful about it. Only that it's really super duper important. He seems like another attorney (may they all be richly blessed as they include my Dad, my brother and much of my extended family) who has never worked in business but wants to run the country and always actually just planned on running for office.

It's also weird to me that the bio on his site says he 'graduated from law school' but doesn't specify that he graduated from BYU Law School. Also can't quite figure out his second Alito clerk thing - I've never heard of a guy breaking from a law career to go back and clerk and it sounds almost politically calculated once he figured out Alito was going to be a star.

Then the weird cluelessness on a critical foreign policy issue evident in this statement from him truly blew my mind:

"I'm concerned with reports that I am hearing from Afghanistan in particular that we may have 100 or fewer active militant Taliban in Afghanistan. I dont have any opportunity to verify if thats true. I dont get the same security briefing as the president. But if that is true, I ask the question: what on earth are we doing subjecting our brave men and women who need to be supported to that kind of danger, day in and day out, if they have as many thugs there as we have right here in Utah county?"

The SL Trib said that Lee might have been confused by a quote in an interview with James Jones in which he said that they estimated 100 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan - but estimates on the Taliban range between 10,000-15,000.

I hate to say it but this is an almost disqualifying lack of awareness - how can you have paid any attention to developments in Afghanistan and then come away with the fully formed notion that there are only 100 enemy combatants there? Bizarre.

Can Utah come up with someone better to challenge a stale incumbent?

(BTW, I fully expect that there's a Lee contingent here on CB who will break out some counters...)

[byu71]

---------------------------------------------------
[posted the below on CB a few days back]

Lee seems like a nice enough guy. But I was hoping for someone a bit more substantive to challenge Bennett.



Can Utah come up with someone better to challenge a stale incumbent?

I am a resident of Utah and would like to feel I am voting "for" someone. In this race I find myself without someone I would like to vote "for". I should find out more about Lee. For instance, I hope his staunchist supporters aren't the Eagle Forum folks.

[oxcoug]

I did some light digging

I am a resident of Utah and would like to feel I am voting "for" someone. In this race I find myself without someone I would like to vote "for". I should find out more about Lee. For instance, I hope his staunchist supporters aren't the Eagle Forum folks.

and the best candidate I see in the primary, in my kinda humble opinion, is Tim Bridgewater.

http://isupportbridgewater.com/

He's a genuine center-right guy, self-made, no entitlement issues, good business background seems very cogent and I like that his wife is a microbiology Phd on the faculty at BYU.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

and the best candidate I see in the primary, in my kinda humble opinion, is Tim Bridgewater.

http://isupportbridgewater.com/

He's a genuine center-right guy, self-made, no entitlement issues, good business background seems very cogent and I like that his wife is a microbiology Phd on the faculty at BYU.

This guy's name is made for politics! Tim "Bridge over troubled Water."

Anyway, it looks like he's running second right now. It could come down to him and Lee at the convention. It seems like all the Bennett voters would flee to Bridgewater who seems to be more moderate than Lee.

http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time....historic-loss/

[SoCalCoug]

Mike is a good guy. I was in law school with him. Even though he was heavy into the Federalist Society, which was a bunch of people who annoyed me, we became friends by working in the moot court program together.

Even though I suspect he's pretty conservative, he's someone who I respect, and so I would give him my endorsement (not that it means anything to anyone).

[Jarid in Cedar]

Headline story in the trib today

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14964318


Bennett is a distant third in this poll. F&%k you, Eagle Forum.

[YOhio]

Headline story in the trib today

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14964318


Bennett is a distant third in this poll. F&%k you, Eagle Forum.

The next time Utah gets dicked over in a federal land deal, blame the Utah GOP delegates for ousting a major DOE and Interior Department appropriator.

I hope he runs as an independent if he loses, similar to what Lieberman did in 2006 when he lost to Ned Lamont in the Conn primary.

[beefytee]

The next time Utah gets dicked over in a federal land deal, blame the Utah GOP delegates for ousting a major DOE and Interior Department appropriator.

I hope he runs as an independent if he loses, similar to what Lieberman did in 2006 when he lost to Ned Lamont in the Conn primary.

He can't. Utah law prevents it. If you run for a party nomination, you can't run as an independent.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14913818?source=pkg

[Jarid in Cedar]

The next time Utah gets dicked over in a federal land deal, blame the Utah GOP delegates for ousting a major DOE and Interior Department appropriator.

I hope he runs as an independent if he loses, similar to what Lieberman did in 2006 when he lost to Ned Lamont in the Conn primary.

No shit. Maybe we need to start a "Thanks Eagle Forum!" thread. It would be a nice dumping ground.

[YOhio]

He can't. Utah law prevents it. If you run for a party nomination, you can't run as an independent.

That sucks.

[YOhio]

Bennett is starting to focus on seniority. He should have started down this path about three months ago.

He argues his replacement would not be in position to stop the impending shutdown of NASA's Ares rocket program, which could result in 2,000 Utahns losing their jobs. He said his replacement wouldn't have his clout to be an effective advocate for Utah's water needs or a sustainable energy plan as the top Republican on the energy and water appropriations subcommittee.

[byu71]

Bennett is starting to focus on seniority. He should have started down this path about three months ago.

Perhaps Haddow told him to go in this direction. He made the point that Bennett is valuable becuase of his seniority over on CB.

I hope Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid don't get ahold of this great campaign idea.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Problems with the caucus system used in Utah:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14971056

For example: Just three out of every 10 Republican delegates are women, according to The Tribune survey. By contrast, 55 percent of GOP voters in the 2008 election were women, according to the Utah Foundation. For Democrats, 43 percent of delegates and 60 percent of voters are women.
"Why does Utah have the lowest number of elected female officials in the country?" Jowers asked. "Now we know a good clue. ... There are not enough women who are part of our system who are making these selections."
The Tribune poll found 87 percent of GOP delegates were Mormons. Statewide, about 60 percent of Utahns are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And the Utah Foundation poll, conducted by The Cicero Group, found a wide disconnect between the views of the delegates from both parties and voters from respective parties and at large.

Another article showing a huge disconnect between Utah voters and delegates elected by the caucus system:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14999322?source=rv

"That's extraordinary," said Utah State University political science professor Michael Lyons. "Some would interpret that as an indictment of the Utah caucus system. The system is empowering activists who are ideologues. ... I'm surprised that there is that much difference between the delegates and the public opinion generally."