Poll shows majority of Utah GOP delegates support tea party movement

SALT LAKE CITY — More than half of the 3,500 state GOP delegates meeting in convention Saturday support the tea party states' rights movement, a Deseret News/KSL-TV survey shows.

And that's great news for Mark Williams, a national tea party leader who is in Utah this week.

A Dan Jones & Associates poll, also sponsored by the Utah Foundation and the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, found that 55 percent of the GOP delegates strongly or somewhat agree with the tea party and 9/12 groups' stands on small federal government and a return to states' rights.

Williams said while the tea party movement is made up of thousands of small groups — and by its very nature is not organized nor tied to any political party — he is glad to see so many Utahns flocking to its ideals.

"I think we need a coup in the Republican Party. Make it the party of Reagan and Lincoln," not special interests or long-term incumbents, Williams said.

Williams, chairman of the Tea Party Express, was interviewed by phone from a rally in St. George, where he spoke in behalf of 2nd District GOP candidate Morgan Philpot. The Philpot campaign paid his expenses and a "small honorarium" to make up for some of the money Williams isn't making while away from his syndicated radio talk show, Williams said.

Philpot, Ed Eliason and Neil Walter face off Saturday in the state GOP convention in the Salt Palace to run for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

If none of the three gets 60 percent of the delegate vote, the top two will go to a June 22 Republican Party primary.

GOP chairman Dave Hansen says he's unsure if tea partiers really are a majority of the state GOP delegates. But Larry J. Jensen is one tea partier who specifically decided to run for a delegate spot.

While Jensen is a Republican, he believes, especially on the national level, that incumbents and party leaders have gotten seriously off track.

"We need to stand on principles, not on personalities," Jensen said.

The tea party movement shows that "you really can make a difference, if you're willing to go to bat for conservative" ideals and candidates, he said. The 9.12 Project is spearheaded by talk-show host Glenn Beck.