Mike Lee joins Senate race, seeking Bennett's seat

SALT LAKE CITY — Attorney Mike Lee on Tuesday formally launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate against 76-year-old Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah — who is twice his age — saying "it's time for a new generation of leadership in Washington."

But Lee, 38, used two 77-year-olds — former Gov. Norm Bangerter and former Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah — to introduce him at the announcement ceremony and provide endorsements. However, the most powerful endorsement came from Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who earlier had dropped out of the Senate race against Bennett to help a daughter struggling with depression.

"I had over 1,000 state delegates at the point that I got out of the race who committed to support me at the upcoming (state GOP) convention this year. I'm happy to have every single one of them get to know Mike Lee and support him," Shurtleff said.

If a candidate earns 60 percent of the delegate votes at the GOP convention, he or she proceeds directly to the general election; otherwise, the top two candidates face off in a primary. Delegates for the next convention will be elected at caucus meetings in March, just three months away. Bennett has been spending heavily as he has courted delegates for months, while Lee is just starting.

Shurtleff, once considered the top challenger to Bennett, said that other candidates besides Lee lack the "experience, the background, the commitment, the zeal, the understanding of the Constitution" that he believes a public servant needs. He said Lee has those qualities, "and I can give him my 100 percent support."

Lee has served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Lee also was a general counsel to former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and a law clerk to federal Judge Dee Benson and has worked as an attorney in Washington, D.C., as well as Utah. His father, Rex Lee, was a former U.S. solicitor general and a former president of Brigham Young University.

"The time has come to pass the torch to a new generation of Republican leaders — men and women committed to the daunting but essential task of returning the federal government to its proper, limited role," Lee said as he announced his candidacy at the state Capitol, a site he said he chose as a symbol that government closest to the people is best.

"Our Founding Fathers decided that it would work best if they gave Congress only limited powers," Lee said. "Unfortunately, too many of those who serve us in Washington — Republicans and Democrats — have lost their grip on this principle." He said too many view the Constitution as something "that can be ignored whenever it is convenient."