Shurtleff running for Senate — at least according to his Facebook page

An accidental "Tweet" and the sudden departure of Utah's governor to China are apparently not derailing Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's ambitions to run for the U.S. Senate.

In a post on Twitter on Monday, Shurtleff scheduled a 12:30 p.m. Wednesday announcement about his campaign. He linked to his Facebook page that had an "announcement about a Senate campaign and how we, the people, can take back America."

Shurtleff's campaign announcement has been delayed and delayed. Last week, he accidentally sent what he thought was a private message about his Senate aspirations out to everyone on Twitter. Shurtleff has told the Deseret News in the past that he has considered either challenging incumbent Republican Senator Bob Bennett or running for governor. With the departure of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to become U.S. Ambassador to China, there has been speculation that Shurtleff might reverse course and run for governor.

Shurtleff wasn't publicly commenting, his spokesman at the Utah Attorney General's Office said Monday. The attorney general's announcement on Facebook appears to indicate otherwise.

"It's time to take this country back from Washington and Washington's elite, back to principles instead of broken promises!" Shurtleff wrote.

— Ben Winslow