National group vows to stage anyone-but-Bennett campaign

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, attracted yet another campaign foe on Friday, and this one is well-financed, nationally known and a champion of many conservatives.

It isn't an actual candidate, but it is the Club for Growth, a national conservative group known for raising and spending big money against candidates it dislikes. The group said it plans to throw "the works" into an anyone-but-Bennett campaign in Utah.

"Bob Bennett is out of touch with the times and his state, and Utah Republicans have better choices for their candidate in November," club president Chris Chocola said.

Chocola made clear that the club is not endorsing any other candidate yet, but he said several challengers to Bennett are viable. "The Club for Growth PAC is committed to seeing one of them defeat Bennett either at the nominating convention in May or in a primary election in June," Chocola said.

Club spokesman Mike Connolly said the club is not yet releasing details about how much it plans to spend against Bennett. "We intend to engage the process with all the resources available to us — with independent expenditures on TV and radio ads, mailings to potential caucus-goers and delegates — the works," Connolly said.

Jim Bennett, the senator's son and campaign manager, returned fire at the Club for Growth on Friday.

He said it "is a Washington, D.C., special-interest group more concerned with raising money than with helping the Republican Party regain control of Congress."

Jim Bennett added the club has "played politics here in Utah before. Their tactics helped make the 2nd Congressional District a firmly Democratic seat. They have gone after a number of conservative Republicans in the Senate, which is clearly not something in the best interests of the GOP. Utahns are too smart to fall for these kind of attacks."

The club has previously been involved in Utah politics. It raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for unsuccessful attempts to defeat Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. Last year, it ran a $90,000 radio ad campaign attacking a health care reform bill that Bob Bennett and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., had pushed for years, which was seen as a major alternative to the Democratic health care reform bill.Bennett and the Club for Growth attacked each other for months last year in the news media and in letters to potential GOP delegates, each saying the other was distorting what Bennett's health care bill would do.