Cook back in the running — this time for Cannon's seat

Former congressman Merrill Cook announced Wednesday that he will challenge U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon for the Republican Party nomination in Utah's 3rd Congressional District.

Cook, with his re-emergence as a Republican candidate, has now been in and out of the Utah Republican Party two different times.

GOP state party leaders and Cannon, R-Utah, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Cannon's campaign manager, Nathan Rathbun, said: "Merrill Cook's announcement today certainly added an interesting element to the campaign. Right now, though, Congressman Cannon is in Washington, D.C., and focused on the important work to be done in Congress."

Cook jumped from the Republican Party several years ago when he ran, and lost, as an independent for the 2004 Salt Lake County mayoral race.

In fact, Cook had lost a long string of contests, running both as a Republican and as an independent, before winning the GOP nomination and the 2nd Congressional District in 1996. He was re-elected in 1998, but in 2000, after a series of public blowups that embarrassed party leaders, he was challenged by two GOP millionaires and lost in the June 2000 Republican primary.

He ran for his old congressional seat in 2002 but lost in the state GOP convention.

"I've always been a Republican, both in my heart and in core principles of the party," Cook said Wednesday morning in a telephone interview. He scheduled a public announcement of his candidacy on a noon K-TALK radio talk show. The candidate filing deadline is Friday.

In 2004, when Cook jumped from the party to run as an independent for Salt Lake County mayor, Utah GOP chairman Joe Cannon told the Deseret Morning News: "Merrill is not a Republican — hasn't been for a long time."

Joe Cannon is the older brother of Chris Cannon.

Cook joins another millionaire, Utah County developer John Jacob, in challenging Chris Cannon in the Republican Party this year.

Cook has spent more than $3 million of his own money running for various offices since 1984. While his business, Cook Associates, has not operated its mining explosives production operations for years, Cook said he still has personal money and will spend a bit in the convention and primary battles, if needed.

"But I already have commitments from some (political action committees) on some of the issues important to me, like illegal immigration," Cook said.