Nearly 3,300 state GOP delegates voted on a number of congressional, state and legislative candidates and picked the delegates to the national convention and the national committeeman and committeewoman.

As expected, GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. won re-nomination. Unopposed were Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Auditor Austin Johnson. In the open state treasurer's seat, state Rep. Mark Walker, R-Sandy, will battle Richard Ellis, current chief deputy treasurer, in a primary.

Cannon's poor showing in the state convention is becoming a biennial event for the six-term congressman. This will be his fifth GOP primary in seven elections. He first took office in 1996 in what is considered one of the most conservative congressional districts in the U.S.

As was the case Saturday, Cannon finished second in the 2006 convention but went on to an easy primary victory over John Jacobs.

Chaffetz gave an emotional convention speech that brought a number of the 3rd District delegates to their feet cheering. He broke from Huntsman (Chaffetz was Huntsman's 2004 campaign manager and chief of staff during his first year in office) when he shouted that Huntsman was wrong about global warming — saying that global warming "is a farce."

He said both Cannon and Leavitt were running campaigns in debt and that he wouldn't do that. Saying he was outspent by both men, he would appeal to the better natures of Republicans and always stand up for their conservative values.

Commenting on Leavitt's endorsement of Cannon — which Cannon said put him into the primary — Chaffetz said: "It's just the good ol' boys, the good ol' boys' business as usual. We're going to change the Utah Republican Party" by defeating a well-financed incumbent in the primary, Chaffetz said.

Chaffetz said illegal immigration must stop, and that English must become the official language of the country. He said he is a convert to the LDS religion and a convert to the Republican Party, and that he comes to politics with a zeal that some incumbent Republicans have forgotten about.

Chaffetz planned all along to eliminate Cannon in the convention by getting 60 percent of the vote. But after losing the nomination outright by just a few delegate votes, he said: "It's a heartbreaker but still thrilling. A win is a win, and we live to see another day."

In the 2nd Congressional District race, Dew said he has both the cash and thousands of personal and business contacts from his 30 years as a contractor "that I can use to get additional funds and get an army to defeat Jim Matheson."

He said he will fund a high-profile mass-media campaign this summer "to make the name Bill Dew a household name."