Voters take a look at Cannon, foes

PROVO — The only clear winners to emerge Saturday during the first — and likely only — debate between Republican candidates for Utah's 3rd Congressional District were the voters.

A few dozen state and county delegates were part of nearly 300 people who showed up for the one-hour session, ostensibly to learn more about the two challengers to four-term Congressman Chris Cannon.

Former Republican state legislator Matt Throckmorton and Greg Hawkins, a local attorney, tried to position themselves as more conservative than Cannon, criticizing his record on immigration, prescription drugs and No Child Left Behind. Cannon said eight years in Congress have proved him to be a "consistent conservative."

Throckmorton and Hawkins believe they will benefit from debating the incumbent in front of delegates, especially those who had never met them before — or never had heard of them.

"I didn't even know their names," said Rosalie McOmber, an Orem resident serving as a delegate for the first time.

That name recognition is critical as the May 8 state Republican convention nears. If more than 60 percent of delegates vote for Cannon at the May 8 convention, he will be the Republican nominee. Anything less, and Cannon will be forced to face the second-place finisher in a primary in June.

Even Cannon felt like a winner Saturday as he wrapped up a whirlwind two-week swing through the district before he heads back to Washington, D.C., on Monday.

"You can't talk to this many delegates on the phone in 10 hours," he said of the debate.

Hawkins and Throckmorton said Cannon hasn't served his heavily conservative constituents well, criticizing his votes for the recent Medicare bill and even pointed out that one of the Senate co-sponsors of his immigration bill is Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Cannon said he has not worked with Kennedy and defended his position on Medicare — a bill he called "an abomination in many ways" and one he voted for "with great reservations" — to help provide medication for the elderly.

The challengers questioned Cannon's ability to decry portions of the Medicare and No Child Left Behind after voting in favor of both. Throckmorton said he would try to repeal No Child Left Behind.