Lack of 2-party process creates political imbalance

A new poll shows that U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett could be eliminated in the May 8 state GOP convention.

Bennett believes he will survive the convention and win the June 22 closed party primary.

But the survey of state Republican delegates, by Dan Jones & Associates for the Deseret News, KSL-TV, the Utah Foundation and the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, is still striking.

Perhaps only in Utah, and only among hard-core GOP delegates, would Bennett not be conservative enough.

Be that as it may, the 18-year incumbent is clearly fighting for his political life.

Now, I don't say this in a mean-spirited way. And I'm not suggesting that Bennett deserves to lose his seat.

But when he ran in 1992, Bennett did promise to serve only two, six-year terms. That would have put him out of office in 2004 — and saved him from getting the royal boot.

Of course, being in the U.S. Senate is one of the most ego-enhancing jobs one may have. And it would be very hard to give that up.

There are only 100 U.S. senators. And unlike the U.S. House, where there are 435 members, each senator has some power — especially in federal appointments, especially in his or her own state.

Utah has not removed a senator from office since 1976, when a then relatively unknown Republican named Orrin Hatch beat Democratic Sen. Frank Moss.

Since then — 34 years ago — we've seen only one change in the U.S. Senate from Utah. Sen. Jake Garn retired in 1992, and Bennett won a tough GOP primary by 2 percentage points over now Deseret News editor Joe Cannon.

Whoever wins the GOP nomination this year will most likely be the senator — since Utahns haven't elected a Democrat to the Senate since Moss won way back in 1970.

The Jones poll was an extensive look at the opinions of GOP and Democratic state delegates and voters.

It shows, among other things, that GOP delegates are more conservative than Republican voters; Democratic delegates more liberal than all voters.

By giving state delegates of either party the ability to nominate a candidate at convention with 60 percent of the vote, both parties allow the possibility that an incumbent — whether it be Bennett, Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, or anyone else — can be driven from office by a few thousand people.

Party leaders and some political commentators say that is a good thing, for it keeps candidates/incumbents closely aligned with their party's grass-roots, platforms, philosophies and so on.

But a growing number of Utahns are wondering if the extremes of both parties should have such power.

One can better defend the convention-primary system in Utah if we actually had a two-party process here.

But we don't.