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Update: Chaffetz Says NO to Run; UT-Sen: Rep. Jason Chaffetz to Announce Challenge to Sen. Orrin Hatch?
+++++Update+++++Report: Chaffetz won’t challenge Hatch in 2012 Republican Senate primaryRep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) will announce Monday that he won’t challenge Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in a 2012 primary battle.
After months of saber-rattling by the conservative, second-term lawmaker about a potential challenge to Hatch, Chaffetz will say later today that he won’t run, The Salt Lake Tribune reported this afternoon.
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Tea Party favoriteWell, there will be an announcement this afternoon one way or another.Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah will announce Monday whether he will launch a primary challenge against Sen. Orrin Hatch next year.
“Monday at 4:00pm MT (6:00pm ET) I plan to announce my intentions regarding my running for office in the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate,” Chaffetz said in a statement.
Conservative activists in Utah, who wish to remain anonymous, tell CNN that Chaffetz appears to be leaning toward a bid for the Senate.
The two-term congressman who represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional district enjoys strong support from many tea party activists and other grassroots conservatives.
Hatch, who is running next year for a seventh term in the Senate, is facing opposition from some in the tea party movement, including FreedomWorks, a major DC-based conservative grassroots organization that is actively working to find a candidate to take on Hatch in next year’s primary.
Last year FreedomWorks was one of the groups that targeted three-term Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah in the months leading up that state’s GOP convention. Bennett was defeated at the convention in his bid for his party’s re-nomination. Conservatives Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater advanced to the party primary, with Lee winning the GOP nod and then the general election.
Regardless of the fact that Sarah Palin announced her support for Hatch, Chaffetz may very well feel that anti-incumbent sentiment is too great not to run.
Politics, after all, is a game of opportunity.
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UT-Sen: Rep. Jason Chaffetz to Announce Challenge to Sen. Orrin Hatch?
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Tea Party favoriteWell, there will be an announcement this afternoon one way or another.Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah will announce Monday whether he will launch a primary challenge against Sen. Orrin Hatch next year.
“Monday at 4:00pm MT (6:00pm ET) I plan to announce my intentions regarding my running for office in the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate,” Chaffetz said in a statement.
Conservative activists in Utah, who wish to remain anonymous, tell CNN that Chaffetz appears to be leaning toward a bid for the Senate.
The two-term congressman who represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional district enjoys strong support from many tea party activists and other grassroots conservatives.
Hatch, who is running next year for a seventh term in the Senate, is facing opposition from some in the tea party movement, including FreedomWorks, a major DC-based conservative grassroots organization that is actively working to find a candidate to take on Hatch in next year’s primary.
Last year FreedomWorks was one of the groups that targeted three-term Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah in the months leading up that state’s GOP convention. Bennett was defeated at the convention in his bid for his party’s re-nomination. Conservatives Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater advanced to the party primary, with Lee winning the GOP nod and then the general election.
Regardless of the fact that Sarah Palin announced her support for Hatch, Chaffetz may very well feel that anti-incumbent sentiment is too great not to run.
Politics, after all, is a game of opportunity.
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UT-Sen GOP Poll Watch: Sen Orrin Hatch 42% Vs. Rep Jason Chaffetz 42%
So says the latest UtahPolicy.com poll.2/16-19/11; 600 registered voters, 4.5% margin of error, 348 registered Republicans, 4.5% margin of error, Mode: Live telephone interviews
Not a good poll for the long-term incumbent Senator Orrin Hatch.
But, will Chaffetz run in what will likely be Hatch’s last six year term in office?
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UT-Sen Poll Watch: Rep. Jason Chaffetz Within 10 Points of Senator Orrin Hatch
Is there any wonder why Orrin Hatch was snuggling up to the Tea Party at CPAC last week?A new Deseret News-KSL poll shows Rep. Jason Chaffetz is just 10 points behind Sen. Orrin Hatch, even though he isn’t in the race — yet.
In a GOP primary, 44 percent of the Utahns surveyed statewide said they’d vote for Hatch over Chaffetz, while 34 percent picked the congressman over the senator.
Hatch also led Chaffetz among the poll respondents who identified themselves as Republicans, 51-35 percent. But those who called themselves “very conservative” chose Chaffetz over Hatch, again 51-35 percent.
The poll, conduced Feb. 8-10 by Dan Jones & Associates of 496 residents, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent. The firm has conducted research for Hatch.
The results suggest Hatch is vulnerable in his 2012 reelection bid, University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank said Monday.
“The concern Hatch’s people have had all along is somebody like a Rep. Chaffetz would be a big risk to them because he would be seen as a newer face,” Burbank said.
Hatch has been trying to shore up his conservative credentials, Burbank said, to avoid facing the same sort of anti-establishment “revolt” that ended former Sen. Bob Bennett’s reelection bid at last year’s state GOP convention.
Whether that’s enough, though, remains to be seen.
Orrin Hatch is in trouble and may very well go the way of Senator Bob Bennett who lost renomination last year.
Hatch is a long term POL, old and Utah voters may want a change. Now, will Rep. Chaffetz run?
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UT-Sen: Tea Party Express Won’t Challenge Sen. Orrin Hatch in GOP Primary – Club for Growth Won’t Ease Off
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, right, accompanied by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, to discuss the introduction of a balanced budget amendment
I suppose it will depend upon whether Utah Republicans can field a good candidate to do battle with Hatch.The Tea Party Express announced Thursday that it would not campaign against Sen. Orrin Hatch, but the Club for Growth is not letting the six-term Utah Republican off the hook that easily.
Tea Party Express chief strategist Sal Russo told the National Review that Hatch is an “original tea partyer,” having supported Ronald Reagan early in his 1976 presidential campaign.But Club for Growth President Chris Chocola, a former Congressman, took issue with that reasoning and said his group would not follow the tea party’s lead.
“While Senator Hatch’s activity in the 1976 presidential campaign is commendable, a lot can change in 35 years,” Chocola said in a statement. “Senator Hatch has a lower lifetime average on the Club for Growth’s Congressional Scorecard than his former colleague Bob Bennett for a reason. … Orrin Hatch has done some good things over the decades, but six term incumbents who vote for [the Troubled Asset Relief Program], the Bridge to Nowhere, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout, [the State Children’s Health Insurance Program], and higher taxes are quite clearly not ‘as good as it gets.’”It might be time for Orrin Hatch to go.
If Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz decides to run against Hatch, the primary battle will be brutal.
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UT-Sen GOP Poll Watch: Huntsman 48% Chaffetz 23% Hatch 21%
Looks like Utah voters who threw out GOP senator Bob Bennett last November are in the mood to do the same to Utah GOP Senator Orrin Hatch.A new Utah Policy poll shows Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, could be fighting off Republicans and Democrats in 2012.
University of Utah political scientist Tim Chambless says Hatch will fight an uphill battle because of age, health and distrust of incumbents.
“There is a possibility that Senator Hatch, the incumbent, would be challenged from within his own party and would be vulnerable to the same fate as Senator Bob Bennett,” Chambless said.
When Hatch is put up against possible Republican challengers he falls behind both former governor John Huntsman, Jr. and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah:
* 48 percent support Huntsman, who hasn’t said what his plans are for the 2012 election
* 23 percent support Chaffetz, who has hinted he might run
* 21 percent support Hatch, who says he’s definitely running again
* 7 percent said they favor someone else
* 1 percent said they don’t knowOrrin Hatch who sometimes leans to the left, better shore up his right flank and do some fence mending with the Tea Party folks in Utah or he will be OUT in 2012.