Pursuit of Elected Delegates Starts Now
With the election of a brand new batch of county and state delegates last night, Phase II of the 2006 election season begins. This is the phase in which candidates in contested intra-party races woo the delegates in advance of the county and state conventions that will come at a fast and furious pace.
Congratulations to all the newly-elected delegates and to all who attended party caucuses Tuesday night. You did your civic duty by engaging in grassroots politics.
While this election is not nearly as big as the 2004 contest, most delegates will still have some choices to make and will be contacted by candidates. Republican delegates will be busier than their Democratic counterparts as the GOP has far more contested races.
Democratic state delegates, for example, aren’t going to have much to do. Democrats have a contested race in the 3rd Congressional District (Christian Burridge and Jim Noorlander), but have only single candidates in the U.S. Senate race (Pete Ashdown) and in the First (Steve Olsen) and Third (Jim Matheson) congressional districts.
On the Republican side, Sen. Orrin Hatch will be busy pursuing delegates, even though he doesn’t face a real fight. Republicans Brian Jenkins and Michael Ridgway filed against him, but they aren’t likely to be serious challengers. Still, Hatch will take nothing for granted and will be actively chasing delegates.
Rob Bishop faces no party opposition in the 1st District, but there will be GOP fights in the 2nd and 3rd Districts. LaVar Christensen will likely be the nominee in the 2nd, but he’ll stay busy pursuing delegates to fight off Kris Lounsberry and Joe Tucker for the nomination. One of the more interesting races of the year will be the 3rd District nomination battle featuring incumbent Chris Cannon against businessman John Jacob and perennial candidate Merrill Cook. This one will likely go to a primary election. There is no way Cook will win, especially because he doesn’t even live in the district, but he has a dedicated (though small) band of anti-immigration followers.
Contested legislative and county races are spotty, but there are plenty to keep things interesting. Some of the best nomination battles will be at the legislative and county levels.
UAC's County Candidates List
The Utah Association of Counties has posted a complete list of the candidates who've filed for county positions statewide. To see the list, click here.
Blog Watch
Part of the Plan responds to LaVarr Webb's Tuesday UPD Publisher's Opinion about the self-sabotaging Left, saying: "What LaVarr and the rest of Utah don’t seem to understand is that, outside of Utah, the great Republican Revolution is over. Finis. Kaput. Dead" (see also here and here)... Reach Upward explains why "most Utah Mormons will continue to vote Republican -- at least for the time being" (see also here)... HazZzMat praises the "truth-tellers at the Salt Lake Tribune" for their coverage of last weekend's anti-war marches... Obiter Dicta by Steve relates: "[T]he Democratic caucus I attended in the rural area north of St. George only happened because I showed up. I got to the meeting place -- a fire station -- a few minutes early and stayed about ten minutes after it was scheduled to start. I was the only one ... I guess I am precinct chair by default if I want" (see also here)... YDems says it was misquoted by this very Blog Watch, and sets the record straight.
Washington Watch
Hatch: Overturn Stem Cell Funding Ban
Sen. Orrin Hatch has joined forces with Sens. Arlen Specter, Ted Kennedy, and Tom Harkin to push for the overturn of Pres. Bush's stem cell research funding ban (Bloomberg); in speech at the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association meeting in Salt Lake City, Hatch outlines a bill he introduced last year, S.1039, designed to help refiners improve returns on investment and encourage investment in new refining capacity (Oil & Gas Journal).
Now You Know
The city of Saratoga Springs is on the northwest shore of Utah Lake. John C. Nagle, an early settler, owned the springs. When John Beck purchased the ranch and springs, he developed the area as a public resort for swimming and picnicking. He named it Saratoga after the famous resort in New York. (Source: Local Government Directory, Utah League of Cities & Towns)
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