Bob Bennett faces major fight — especially in convention

U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, picked up another GOP challenger this week, local attorney Mike Lee.

I can't remember a time when an incumbent U.S. senator from Utah has had such a field of viable opponents from his own party — four and counting.

Open seats, of course, bring out a large number of candidates — in part because Utah historically has such little turnover in its two Senate seats.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has been in office since 1977.

But Bennett in his previous elections won by large majorities and has been relatively well-liked.

Bennett, the son of the late U.S. Sen. Wallace F. Bennett, won his father's old seat in 1992, promising to serve only two, six-year terms. That promise lasted only until after his first re-election in 1998, when he said he'd run for a third term if he felt well and could contribute.

Bennett, 76, is clearly still feeling OK. He'll be 77 at next November's election, 83 when his fourth term ends (if he wins).

Utahns traditionally revere senior citizens and respect the wisdom that can come with age. But many Utahns are very angry with Congress. And while record federal budget deficits are coming with a Democratic administration and Congress, Republicans controlled things before when the cost of two wars were not even counted in the budget and our financial system neared the brink of crashing.

In 2008, 3rd Congressional District Rep. Chris Cannon — who had had GOP intraparty challengers before — was knocked out of office by Jason Chaffetz, a brash conservative with media flair. Now Bennett, who certainly by national standards is no moderate, is being targeted.

I see Bennett's real fight in the state GOP convention coming in May. If one candidate can get 60 percent of the delegate vote, he or she wins the nomination outright. If not, the top two vote-getters go to a late June closed GOP primary.

It was in the 2008 primary that Chaffetz beat Cannon, a bit of a surprise because incumbents can best use their money and name ID in a primary rather than in a party convention.

If Bennett can come out of the convention — it matters little if he is first or second there — I see him an odds-on-favorite to win another term. He'd have an advantage in a primary, and Utah has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1970.