Utah Republican Challenges Sen. Bennett from the Outside
By Michael Teitelbaum, CQ Staff
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is now officially challenging three-term incumbent Robert F. Bennett for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination, a contest in which he is juxtaposing himself as the home-state political “outsider” taking on the Washington “insider.”
“The winds of change, they are a-blowing,” Shurtleff said. “Not the bigger government, corporate welfare, radical liberal nannyism type of change promised and now being implemented” in Shurtleff’s opinion by President Obama.
Shurtleff also challenged the notion that a long tenure on Capitol Hill, such as the one enjoyed by Bennett, is necessarily a good thing for Utah.
“It is true that in Washington, seniority matters,” Shurtleff said. “But not if that seniority is taking us in the wrong direction. More of the wrong medicine never cured anybody.”
It is an approach that has recent precedence in Utah, a Republican stronghold with a strongly conservative constituency that tends to have a rather jaundiced view of the federal government. Like Jason Chaffetz did in 2008 when he ousted six-term Rep. Chris Cannon in the 2008 Republican primary, Shurtleff signaled in his Senate candidacy announcement May 20 that he will be running against Washington and touting his conservative credentials.
Chaffetz’ success may have emboldened Shurtleff “to take advantage of the anti-Washington feeling” by entering the Senate race, said Kirk Jowers, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. Shurtleff had previously been aiming his sights at a future run for governor of Utah before determining that Bennett appeared vulnerable to a primary challenge.
One big difference between these two campaigns, though, is that Chaffetz was running against a House incumbent who was damaged by criticism from many conservatives on a hot-button political issue: Cannon was regarded as a moderate on immigration issues and he supported a proposal to assimilate immigrants currently living illegally in the United States, which many on the right lambasted as “amnesty.” Bennett has no comparable issue that is haunting his campaign.
He did rile a number of conservatives last fall when he joined most senators in approving the $700 billion fund to assist the staggering financial industry, widely labeled the bailout bill (PL 110-343). But Bennett, though he described that legislation as necessary to prevent a bigger financial crisis, touts the fact that he has since opposed subsequent private-sector bailout measures. He says he has heard the concerns of conservative activists and is acting to reassure them that his overall record has been true to the Republican Party’s core principles.
Bennett, who says he is taking Shurtleff “very seriously,” is hardly shying away from trumpeting his seniority as he rounds out his third six-year Senate term in the seat he first won in 1992.
Dan Jones, co-owner of Dan Jones and Associates, a public opinion research firm in Salt Lake City, said Bennett could argue that “seniority isn’t a curse, it’s a blessing.” If Shurtleff were to win, he would likely be nearly last in seniority in the chamber, which might not get him very good committee assignments. Bennett, on the other hand, holds a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee, is ranking Republican on the Rules and Administration Committee, and also is a member of both the top-tier Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Energy and Natural Resources committees.
Bennett jumped right in after Shurtleff’s candidacy announcement to flex his party establishment muscle. That same day, Bennett had a television ad on the air with an endorsement by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a figure popular in Utah because of the Mormon religion he shares with most residents and his successful stewardship of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Romney, in the ad, called Bennett a “conservative giant.”
Bennett endorsed Romney in his bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, in which Romney dominated the Utah primary. Shurtleff backed Arizona Sen. John McCain , who was trounced in that primary but won the Republican nomination and went on to easily carry the state over Obama in the general election.
The 2010 Senate primary will boil down to a showdown between two popular Republican figures. Bennett won a third Senate term in 2004 with 69 percent of the vote. Shurtleff was elected to a third term as state Attorney General in 2008, also with 69 percent.
While state political observers say Bennett is still the odds-on favorite to win the party’s nomination, Jones acknowledged, “This will be his greatest test.”
Shurtleff, who says he hopes to raise more than $1 million for his Senate bid, has played up an poll he commissioned, conducted by New Jersey-based National Research Inc., that shows him within hailing distance of the incumbent. The poll of 300 likely delegates to the 2010 state Republican convention, taken in February, showed Bennett with support from 38 percent to 31 percent for Shurtleff and 24 percent undecided.
Utah’s unique system for culling the parties’ candidate fields adds a layer of unpredictability, especially since there likely will be a third Republican candidate in the race — Tim Bridgewater, a conservative who previously ran for the U.S. House — and others may follow.
Balloting will be held at the state Republican convention in May 2010, with the last-place finisher on each ballot eliminated until there are two competitors left. If one candidate receives 60 percent of the delegate votes on any ballot, he or she would be deemed nominated and there would be no primary contest. But if that should not occur, a June primary between the two finalist candidates would ensue.
Jowers said that while the convention delegates like and respect Bennett, some of them are just frustrated about his financial industry bailout vote and his support for spending earmarks. Still, Jowers predicted that Bennett will win the convention “if he can have a personal conversation with the delegates, listens to them and tells them he is a conservative and will work for them.”
He further predicted that if the convention delegates decide to send the nominating fight to a primary, “Shurtleff has little to no chance of beating Bennett.”
But Jowers added that Shurtleff may have nothing to lose by taking a shot at the Senate, because his re-election in 2008 to a new four-year term in his current office makes the 2010 race a free ride. Even if Shurtleff loses to Bennett, Jowers noted, “He still has a job.”
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