Will Cannon survive primary challenge?

Tuesday is primary election day in Utah, and the top race locally is also being watched nationally.

Five-term Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, has his most serious challenge since he defeated then-Democratic Rep. Bill Orton in 1996.

Utah's 3rd Congressional District is seen by some as a bellwether for vulnerable House GOP incumbents, not only because Congress is generally getting some of the lowest job performance poll numbers ever measured, but also because the district is seen as a test on illegal immigration.

Cannon has never been a big fund-raiser. And that alone has encouraged challenges in the past from within his own Republican Party.

A decade ago, Cannon spent $1.5 million of his own money to unseat Orton. That was cash spent in a full general election.

And while Cannon's GOP opponent Tuesday, John Jacob, is also a millionaire, Jacob says he won't be spending as much of his own cash on the primary race as Cannon spent on his whole campaign in 1996.

Still, Jacob has poured upward of $400,000 into his race so far, basically self-funding his campaign.

Jacob says he differs with Cannon on a number of issues. But, in fact, they actually agree on many.

Even though Cannon has become a born-again hard-liner on illegal immigration, the representative did introduce legislation in the House modeled after President Bush's approach to the controversial subject. Cannon says he has never supported "amnesty," but he has supported a guest worker program and a way for illegal immigrants to work toward legal status.

Bush is now repaying Cannon's loyalty: Both he and first lady Laura Bush have made endorsement radio ads for Cannon.

Utah is one of the few states where Bush's job approval rating is above 50 percent (even though he has dropped precipitously here over the last year, as he has nationally). And so Cannon and his supporters believe a Bush endorsement ad will help.

Jacob says he loves the Republican president, has voted for him in the past and would vote for him in the future if he could. "But he's wrong on immigration," says Jacob. And Cannon is wrong to support the president's illegal-immigration policies, Jacob adds.