Sen. Bob Bennett says Utah's freshman senator likely won't go to the head of the class

WASHINGTON — Don't expect much from whoever ends up being elected as Utah's newest U.S. senator, at least for the freshman's first few years in office.

That's the advice of Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who lost his bid for a fourth term last month to Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee at the GOP state convention.

"Your ability to influence anything is pretty much zero," Bennett, 76, said of a newcomer to the Senate, especially one from a small state and, likely, the minority party.

Tuesday, Utah Republicans will choose between Bridgewater and Lee in their party's primary. In November, the winner will face Democrat Sam Granato, who has his work cut out for him in the largely Republican state.

Even with the company of at least a dozen new colleagues swept into power by a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment, Utah's freshman senator can expect a tough time.

"Almost any freshman spends the first two years in the Senate learning their way around, the procedures, how things work," said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. "It is hard."

With a larger-than-normal freshman class expected, and control likely to stay in the hands of Democrats, Duffy said, it's going to be even more difficult for Utah's new senator.

"The more new faces, the more competition for committee assignments," she said. "The class we're going to see come in is going to be a very partisan class."

Bennett recalled running up against the Senate's seniority-based structure after being elected in 1992 to replace retiring Sen. Jake Garn. The "big promises on big issues" he made during his campaign turned out to be difficult for a freshman to fill.

"You learn very quickly there are a lot of people on the big issues who have their own ideas and they're not about to step aside for you," Bennett said. So he looked for less-popular issues to champion, such as the so-called "Y2K" preparations to ensure the turn of the millennium wouldn't crash the nation's computers.

"I figured, OK, the big boys are all focused on these other big issues and this could turn into a major disaster," he said. "I created the impression among my colleagues that Bennett is a player."

That took time, though.

"It's not just seniority in terms of number of years," he said. "I'm talking about seniority in terms of confidence and trust and respect. No matter who you are and how bright you are, it takes a while to build that up."