I will attend our precinct caucus tonight and vote for a Constitutionalist-delegate -- will you?March 22, 2010
Sunday's health care vote on Capitol Hill was just the latest flash point for an anti-incumbency fervor targeting the White House and congressional Democrats.
But Democrats aren't alone in attracting angry voters ready to throw the bums out. Three-term incumbent Republican Bob Bennett, a conservative senator from deeply Republican Utah, is immersed in the re-election fight of his political life. And Tuesday, that battle begins in earnest as Utah Republicans gather in neighborhood caucuses.
Squeaky-Clean Candidate
Bennett is not weighed down by scandal, and he has the kind of political and religious pedigree that should be unbeatable in Mormon-dominated Utah: He's the grandson of Mormon prophet Heber J. Grant. He's endorsed by fellow Mormon and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is very popular in Utah. He's the son of a popular, four-term U.S. senator, the late Wallace Bennett. And he's a Republican in a state so partisan even the rocks are red.
But a November KSL-Deseret News poll had this shocking result: Fifty-eight percent of the people surveyed said they wanted someone new in Bennett's Senate seat.
And by Bennett's own count, he has just one-third of the people likely to emerge as state convention delegates at Tuesday's neighborhood caucuses. These roughly 3,200 delegates will gather in Salt Lake City on May 8 and decide whether Bennett faces a June primary for re-election or whether he gets to run at all for his seat.
Utah's Unique Nominating Process
Utah has a caucus and convention nominating process that "empowers a very small number of people who are typically to the far right and highly motivated," says Kirk Jowers, a Republican and director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.
"If you become a delegate, your vote is worth something like 8,000 people," Jowers adds, laughing. "People were concerned about the superdelegates of the Democrats. They were wimps compared to what Utah does for its delegates."
Staunch conservatives are upset with Bennett because they consider him too soft on immigration and too cozy with Democrats. Bennett's co-sponsorship of an early, bipartisan health care bill had him appearing with Democrats before TV cameras. And Bennett voted in favor of the initial TARP bank bailout bill.
The TARP vote has housewife and Tea Party activist Kathy Smith of Marriott-Slaterville hoping she'll emerge from her neighborhood caucus as an anti-Bennett state convention delegate. She describes the bailout and Bennett's support as "unconstitutional, irresponsible, treasonous, unethical, immoral — horrible!"
"I think these incumbents and Bob Bennett especially are in big trouble," Smith says. "Either they're 'RINOs' — Republicans in Name Only — or they go in and they're soon part of the system."
Working The System
White joined a gathering last week in the auditorium at the public library in Washington Terrace. A local 912 group sponsored the event. These are strict constitutionalists who believe the nation should revert to the atmosphere of unity and purpose it seemed to have on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The featured speaker was Frank Anderson, the operations director at a charter school and co-founder of Independence Caucus, a Utah-based group trying to unseat politicians deemed not conservative enough.
Anderson knows how to work Utah's unique caucus system. He helped force a six-term incumbent Republican congressman into a primary in 2008. Rep. Chris Cannon was then ousted in the primary.
"We now need you to band together and replace Bob Bennett," Anderson told the 65 people gathered in the library auditorium. "We know exactly how you can do it."
First, Anderson got the group fired up with a PowerPoint presentation titled "Bend it like Bennett." It traced 17 years of Bennett campaign contributions worth $1.3 million to 30 banks helped by the TARP bailout. NPR did not independently verify Anderson's numbers.
Then Anderson made the caucus pitch.
"If you stay home and let Bob Bennett's hand-picked supporters get elected as your delegates, our senators and representatives will get the message that ... you want to continue following Bob Bennett as he steers us toward bigger government and fiscal irresponsibility," Anderson said.
Playing Defense
Bennett is working hard to get his supporters to the caucuses. In the basement of a Salt Lake City office building, campaign workers phone former Bennett delegates, urging them to again attend their neighborhood caucuses. The 77-year-old former businessman says his campaign has sent out caucus information packets to more than 5,000 people.
Bennett says his opponents wrap together his TARP bailout vote with imaginary votes.
"So, a vote for the first round of TARP is a vote for the stimulus, even though I didn't vote that way," Bennett says. "It is a vote for the auto bailout, even though I didn't vote that way. It is a vote for Obama's budget, even though I didn't vote that way. And when they get in that mode, frankly it's a little hard to deal with."
Bennett enlists Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in defending his initial vote for TARP, saying they and he agree that it was the right vote at the time, given the fear of a global economic panic. He does not apologize for his support for an early bipartisan health care bill, because "politics is a team sport," he says. And he has this explanation for how a conservative Republican in a deeply red state is struggling:
"There is a mood in the country of anger, and the reaction is, well, 'I can speak out in anger against the incumbent,' " Bennett says. "Well, here in Utah, the incumbent is a Republican. So, OK, if we're going to speak out against an incumbent, we lash out against Bob Bennett."
A $500,000 caucus campaign includes TV ads that try to turn the anger toward the president. "We have to stop President Obama's liberal agenda," Bennett says in the ad. "And the fight is now."
The First Hurdle
But the first fight for Bennett is to be able to continue to fight. His hopes lie in what he believes will be a large percentage of uncommitted delegates emerging from the caucuses.
Joining the battle is the Washington-based Club for Growth, which attacks Republican candidates not considered committed enough to "pro-growth policies, limited government, low taxes and economic freedom," as the group says on its Web site. A full-time Club for Growth organizer has been working in Utah; the group is running an anti-Bennett ad on a Fox News station in the state and it has a Web site, www.stopbobbennett.com.
But Bennett's seven Republican opponents don't need out-of-state help. They have a caucus and convention system that has proved hostile to some of the state's most popular Republicans, including some with approval ratings exceeding 80 percent. At past state conventions, some were booed or booted — or both.
Related NPR Stories
For GOP, Tea Party Offers New Energy And New Woes March 5, 2010
Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
- BroJones
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Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
NPR article:
- ChelC
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Re: Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
I'm going to have kids in tow, but I plan on going. I'm pretty sure it was the Bennett camp that asked me over the phone if I were seeking the delegate position again and I said no (stupid me). So I'm sort of wondering who might show up to gain that position if he has supporters around here. I'm going, but I really don't want a delegate position anymore this term so I hope some good people show up for that purpose.DrJones wrote:NPR article:
I will attend our precinct caucus tonight and vote for a Constitutionalist-delegate -- will you?March 22, 2010
Sunday's health care vote on Capitol Hill was just the latest flash point for an anti-incumbency fervor targeting the White House and congressional Democrats.
But Democrats aren't alone in attracting angry voters ready to throw the bums out. Three-term incumbent Republican Bob Bennett, a conservative senator from deeply Republican Utah, is immersed in the re-election fight of his political life. And Tuesday, that battle begins in earnest as Utah Republicans gather in neighborhood caucuses.
Squeaky-Clean Candidate
Bennett is not weighed down by scandal, and he has the kind of political and religious pedigree that should be unbeatable in Mormon-dominated Utah: He's the grandson of Mormon prophet Heber J. Grant. He's endorsed by fellow Mormon and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is very popular in Utah. He's the son of a popular, four-term U.S. senator, the late Wallace Bennett. And he's a Republican in a state so partisan even the rocks are red.
But a November KSL-Deseret News poll had this shocking result: Fifty-eight percent of the people surveyed said they wanted someone new in Bennett's Senate seat.
And by Bennett's own count, he has just one-third of the people likely to emerge as state convention delegates at Tuesday's neighborhood caucuses. These roughly 3,200 delegates will gather in Salt Lake City on May 8 and decide whether Bennett faces a June primary for re-election or whether he gets to run at all for his seat.
Utah's Unique Nominating Process
Utah has a caucus and convention nominating process that "empowers a very small number of people who are typically to the far right and highly motivated," says Kirk Jowers, a Republican and director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.
"If you become a delegate, your vote is worth something like 8,000 people," Jowers adds, laughing. "People were concerned about the superdelegates of the Democrats. They were wimps compared to what Utah does for its delegates."
Staunch conservatives are upset with Bennett because they consider him too soft on immigration and too cozy with Democrats. Bennett's co-sponsorship of an early, bipartisan health care bill had him appearing with Democrats before TV cameras. And Bennett voted in favor of the initial TARP bank bailout bill.
The TARP vote has housewife and Tea Party activist Kathy Smith of Marriott-Slaterville hoping she'll emerge from her neighborhood caucus as an anti-Bennett state convention delegate. She describes the bailout and Bennett's support as "unconstitutional, irresponsible, treasonous, unethical, immoral — horrible!"
"I think these incumbents and Bob Bennett especially are in big trouble," Smith says. "Either they're 'RINOs' — Republicans in Name Only — or they go in and they're soon part of the system."
Working The System
White joined a gathering last week in the auditorium at the public library in Washington Terrace. A local 912 group sponsored the event. These are strict constitutionalists who believe the nation should revert to the atmosphere of unity and purpose it seemed to have on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The featured speaker was Frank Anderson, the operations director at a charter school and co-founder of Independence Caucus, a Utah-based group trying to unseat politicians deemed not conservative enough.
Anderson knows how to work Utah's unique caucus system. He helped force a six-term incumbent Republican congressman into a primary in 2008. Rep. Chris Cannon was then ousted in the primary.
"We now need you to band together and replace Bob Bennett," Anderson told the 65 people gathered in the library auditorium. "We know exactly how you can do it."
First, Anderson got the group fired up with a PowerPoint presentation titled "Bend it like Bennett." It traced 17 years of Bennett campaign contributions worth $1.3 million to 30 banks helped by the TARP bailout. NPR did not independently verify Anderson's numbers.
Then Anderson made the caucus pitch.
"If you stay home and let Bob Bennett's hand-picked supporters get elected as your delegates, our senators and representatives will get the message that ... you want to continue following Bob Bennett as he steers us toward bigger government and fiscal irresponsibility," Anderson said.
Playing Defense
Bennett is working hard to get his supporters to the caucuses. In the basement of a Salt Lake City office building, campaign workers phone former Bennett delegates, urging them to again attend their neighborhood caucuses. The 77-year-old former businessman says his campaign has sent out caucus information packets to more than 5,000 people.
Bennett says his opponents wrap together his TARP bailout vote with imaginary votes.
"So, a vote for the first round of TARP is a vote for the stimulus, even though I didn't vote that way," Bennett says. "It is a vote for the auto bailout, even though I didn't vote that way. It is a vote for Obama's budget, even though I didn't vote that way. And when they get in that mode, frankly it's a little hard to deal with."
Bennett enlists Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in defending his initial vote for TARP, saying they and he agree that it was the right vote at the time, given the fear of a global economic panic. He does not apologize for his support for an early bipartisan health care bill, because "politics is a team sport," he says. And he has this explanation for how a conservative Republican in a deeply red state is struggling:
"There is a mood in the country of anger, and the reaction is, well, 'I can speak out in anger against the incumbent,' " Bennett says. "Well, here in Utah, the incumbent is a Republican. So, OK, if we're going to speak out against an incumbent, we lash out against Bob Bennett."
A $500,000 caucus campaign includes TV ads that try to turn the anger toward the president. "We have to stop President Obama's liberal agenda," Bennett says in the ad. "And the fight is now."
The First Hurdle
But the first fight for Bennett is to be able to continue to fight. His hopes lie in what he believes will be a large percentage of uncommitted delegates emerging from the caucuses.
Joining the battle is the Washington-based Club for Growth, which attacks Republican candidates not considered committed enough to "pro-growth policies, limited government, low taxes and economic freedom," as the group says on its Web site. A full-time Club for Growth organizer has been working in Utah; the group is running an anti-Bennett ad on a Fox News station in the state and it has a Web site, http://www.stopbobbennett.com.
But Bennett's seven Republican opponents don't need out-of-state help. They have a caucus and convention system that has proved hostile to some of the state's most popular Republicans, including some with approval ratings exceeding 80 percent. At past state conventions, some were booed or booted — or both.
Related NPR Stories
For GOP, Tea Party Offers New Energy And New Woes March 5, 2010
- mattctr
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Re: Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
Hooray! I will be at mine. I will nominate my father to be a state delegate (whether or not he knows I'm planning on it), and I will try to get each potential delegate to go on the record for or against Bennett, so they can't play the whole " 'I'm undecided' but really planning on voting Bennett the whole time" thing.DrJones wrote: I will attend our precinct caucus tonight and vote for a Constitutionalist-delegate -- will you?
I would like to thank Comrade Bennett for his years of faithful service to the party and the motherland, and for upholding "his version" of the oath of office for those who own him: http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/ ... =N00006347
- Jason
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Re: Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
I'll be at mine running for State delegate. I think I am pretty well prepared, and would be more than happy to support someone else that will support someone other than "Bailout Bob".
- BroJones
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Re: Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
Just got back from our precinct meeting. The chair said it was the largest she'd ever seen. No doubt, the room was packed (ours is a small town).
There were two candidates for state delegate (which will vote on Senator Bennett or another at the state convention).
Shawn B stood up and said he would support Mike Lee, Constitutionalist opponent to Sen. Bennett. The other candidate stood up and said that she would vote for Bennett. The division could not have been clearer -- bail-out globalist versus Constitutionalist.
And the winner (by secret ballot) is (drum roll) -- Shawn! Restores my faith in our town... We're getting a lot of patriots moving in -- including Jack Monnett...
The balance IMO is shifting away from the NWO-globalists...
There were two candidates for state delegate (which will vote on Senator Bennett or another at the state convention).
Shawn B stood up and said he would support Mike Lee, Constitutionalist opponent to Sen. Bennett. The other candidate stood up and said that she would vote for Bennett. The division could not have been clearer -- bail-out globalist versus Constitutionalist.
And the winner (by secret ballot) is (drum roll) -- Shawn! Restores my faith in our town... We're getting a lot of patriots moving in -- including Jack Monnett...
The balance IMO is shifting away from the NWO-globalists...
- Jason
- Master of Puppets
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Re: Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
Similar situation at mine....most the old timers had seen in couple decades....1/5 of the people had to stand after they brought in additional chairs and cafeteria benches....packed the school lunch room wall to wall
- ChelC
- The Law
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- Location: Utah
Re: Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
Same here. Last year (two years ago I guess) our precinct had six people show. This year we had over forty! Of the four delegates who were nominated, all four were opposed to Bennett. No one in the room voiced any support for him at all. I think that's a very good sign. There was no doubt a wave of opposition to recent events.DrJones wrote:Just got back from our precinct meeting. The chair said it was the largest she'd ever seen. No doubt, the room was packed (ours is a small town).
There were two candidates for state delegate (which will vote on Senator Bennett or another at the state convention).
Shawn B stood up and said he would support Mike Lee, Constitutionalist opponent to Sen. Bennett. The other candidate stood up and said that she would vote for Bennett. The division could not have been clearer -- bail-out globalist versus Constitutionalist.
And the winner (by secret ballot) is (drum roll) -- Shawn! Restores my faith in our town... We're getting a lot of patriots moving in -- including Jack Monnett...
The balance IMO is shifting away from the NWO-globalists...
And my kids mostly behaved and one helped me read ballots - volunteered himself the little stinker!
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Re: Senator Bennett feels the heat as an incumbent
Likewise. I've been going to these meetings in Utah for 10 years now, and have never seen such passion, such strong, powerful pro-Constitution speeches, and so many people. Over half those there had to stand.
And the amazing thing to see was what seemed like universal anti-Bennett sentiment publicly expressed, again and again. Every State delegate candidate was forced, one way or another to state how they stood on Bennett's candidacy.
Unfortunately, a very old-timer and inside-the-beltway denizen had a lot of silent support, which you would never have known was there. Nobody publicly defended Bennett except this one candidate during his speech. The bad thing is that there were 3 excellent anti-Bennett candidates that split the vote between them and allowed Harmon to get in.
But VERY gratifying to see this level of passion and knowledge about the necessity of retiring the rascals.
And the amazing thing to see was what seemed like universal anti-Bennett sentiment publicly expressed, again and again. Every State delegate candidate was forced, one way or another to state how they stood on Bennett's candidacy.
Unfortunately, a very old-timer and inside-the-beltway denizen had a lot of silent support, which you would never have known was there. Nobody publicly defended Bennett except this one candidate during his speech. The bad thing is that there were 3 excellent anti-Bennett candidates that split the vote between them and allowed Harmon to get in.
But VERY gratifying to see this level of passion and knowledge about the necessity of retiring the rascals.