Does anyone have shot at defeating Bennett?

The 2010 election is more than a year away, but Bob Bennett's U.S. Senate seat is already being hotly contested.

What is happening in the race and do any of Bennett's Republican challengers have any real chance of defeating him?

Pignanelli: "Republicans need to have a battle between centrists and conservatives in order to return to power. A right-centered party can't be a majority nationally," said former congressman and chairman of Republican congressional campaign committee Tom Davis. R-Va. We are receiving information from various sources that the contest to secure the most delegates is still up for grabs. Many of these conservative stalwarts remain angry at Bennett but have not selected an alternative. This critical interparty contest remains very fluid. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is the only challenger who has the resources, name identification and personal charisma to attract enough delegates to force Bennett into a primary.

Webb: Bennett is clearly at risk, but he has enough time, money and other resources to get his campaign on track before the March 2010 neighborhood party caucuses. Bennett faces an anti-Washington surge, but he has a lot of advantages. He should be able to raise plenty of money to mount a massive grass-roots effort to get delegates elected and win in convention. He has the support of the top-level Utah business and political establishment. He has widespread support in major industries like energy, agriculture and financial services. His task is to mobilize all the latent support out there, organizing and training people to attend party caucuses. It is a lot of hard, boring, pick-and-shovel work in the political trenches, but Bennett should easily have the resources to make it happen. If he gets upset in the convention, it will be his own fault for lacking an effective grass-roots organization.

Why has Bennett attracted so much opposition within his own party so early in the 2010 election cycle?

Pignanelli: I have abandoned attempts to determine the mindset of right-wing extremists (forcing my brain to reduce the frequency of synapses was too exhausting). However — to no one's surprise — I have a theory. The ultraconservatives have difficulty in articulating why they dislike Bennett beyond the Troubled Asset Relief Program vote. They just usually grouse about the federal government and anyone associated with it. Bennett is an older guy, but his politics and methods are the "New Republicanism" that younger GOP politicos espouse as the key to future success. Bennett's trademark qualities (rational thinking, fiscal conservatism, social tolerance, creative problem solving with little partisan sniping) remind hard-liners the national trend is against them. Thus the anger.