Deseret News | Looking to challenge Bennett? Watch it; he's shrewd

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Bob Bernick Jr.: Looking to challenge Bennett? Watch it; he's shrewd

dave | 7:20 a.m. July 10, 2009

Anyone voting for the "bailout" or "stimulus" money doesn't deserve to represent the people anywhere. It's time for Bennett to permanently go.

Mitt Romney?? | 7:28 a.m. July 10, 2009

Many Utah voters were upset with Mitt Romney when he dropped out of the Presidential race right after the Utah Primary, making John McCain the front runner. That move was seen as sell-out by Romney for his own personal gain-probably the Vice President nomination.

I was furious I had wasted my vote on Romney and not a candidate more committed to running for President.

At any rate: Romney may cost Bennett a few votes!

were you there last June? | 8:19 a.m. July 10, 2009

All Senator Bennett needs is 40% plus 1 at convention, but he won't get it.

Lets say Bennett is lucky and gets 1/3 of the vote the 1st round. (Based on current delegate reaction, that isn't going to happen).

Lets say Cherilyn Eagar gets 1/3 of the vote and
Lets say Mark Shurtleff gets 1/3 of the vote and
Lets say James Williams gets the rest.
(Bridgewater still isn't in the race)

Williams votes go to Eagar the next round.
Shurtleff's votes go to Eagar the next round
Eagar wins 67% to 33% and Bennett can retire.

My outcome is more likely than Bob Bernick's.

Even if Bennett does make it out of convention, the majority of the voters don't want him back.

Comments continue below

Mitt? | 8:23 a.m. July 10, 2009

In March of this year Senator Bob Bennett was rated one of the ten most liberal Republicans in the Senate by Human Events based on the American Conservative Union Ratings for 2008. (He is now number 8) Why Bennett would pay money to convince voters he is Conservative is beyond me.

Mitt Romney endorses incumbent Republicans, but will change that endorsement if they lose the nominee. That is what he did with endorsing Chris Cannon, and then endorsing Jason Chaffetz when Cannon was out of the picture.

There are several republican candidates for Utah's 2010 US Senate race. One candidate actively promoted Mitt Romney, including helping with his fundraisers - Cherilyn Eagar.

It highly likely that after Bob Bennett doesn't make it out of state convention next year, that Mitt Romney will be endorsing the nominee, Cherilyn Eagar.

Anonymous | 10:22 a.m. July 10, 2009

Chaffetz should shut his mouth. If he challenges and loses, Bennett could make his life more difficult. If he decides not to challenge, Bennett could make his life more difficult. All the mouthing off by the Chaffetz clown just further supports the idea that it is about Chaffetz and his ego, not effective representation for Utah.

Mike | 10:33 a.m. July 10, 2009

Bernick, keep drinking the Koolaide. You state that Conservatives are outnumbered in this state. Only in Salt Lake City is that true, and my guess is that even in Salt Lake Conservatives make up the single biggest block of actual voters that consistantly vote Republican. Conservatives send conservative delegates to the State Convention (I'm planning on being a state delegate come 2010). Because of that, Bennett is toast. Besides, he only gets his name in the paper when he gets close to re-election. Otherwise he does nothing but stroke his ego. He is one of the worst Senators in Utah history.

Mike Richards | 10:37 a.m. July 10, 2009

No one seems to ask the question of why a Senator, any Senator, needs more than one term to represent his State.

If he is a true patriot, one who believes that service to his Country is sacrifice and not a stepping stone to a life-time of special treatment and special privilege, then he ought to be content with sacrificing six years in service to others.

If his head is so large that he thinks that he and he alone is qualified to represent us, then he has already proven himself unworthy of our trust.

If he claims that one term is not enough to do the job he was elected to do, then he is declaring that he was too lazy or too inept to do the job he was hired to do, and he should be fired.

If he claims that it takes time for form those special relations that makes a Senator valuable, he's just using code words to say that there are still special interest groups whose funds he has not yet "harvested". Fire that man immediately.

Bridgewater is in | 11:51 a.m. July 10, 2009

At the June 13th State Republican Party Organizing Convention Bridgewater had signs that read "Paid for by Bridgewater for Senate" or something like that.

That is a public advertisement for a Federal office, which means he is actively campaigning for office.

If he hasn't filed a statement of candidacy yet it is because he hasn't raised or spent more than $5000, which is the filing threshold.

If he has raised or spent more than $5000 he is in violation of FEC law.

Term limits | 12:00 p.m. July 10, 2009

We need term limits for all Senators, they are a largely corrupt group and having them stay in for what seems like lifetime appointments is making things worse.

Also, I'm a conservative, but I'm starting to think we really need to be voting for the opposite party to have control of the congress. What I mean is when we have a democrat president, we need to vote for republican congressmen, and when we have a republican president we need to vote for moderate democrats in congress. I don't know about you, but it seems like when one party controls both branches of goverment then we get the absolute worst deal as citizens.

@Bridgewater | 12:07 p.m. July 10, 2009

The $5000 rule isn't the only rule. If he is actively campaigning with signs etc, as of the 13th of June, he should have signed the statement within 15 days or the 28th. If he did and mailed it in, it isn't showing up yet.

Talk is he is thinking of another race, again.
I don't know who is going to run against Matheson for US Congress.

Didn't You See Shurtleff's Poll | 12:23 p.m. July 10, 2009

It showed Bennett could make it through convention but had trouble in Primary against someone with name id, like Mark Shurtleff.

When PRIMARY voters find out that Bennett was key to the passage of the $700 billion Wall St. bailout package he drops 10 percentage points, from 40% to 30%.

Shurtleff jumps up 9% points to 46%.

Bennett could probably weather a 10-point loss to a lesser known candidate, but to a Mark Shurtleff it is spells retirement.

@@bridgewater | 12:35 p.m. July 10, 2009

2nd seat is going to be an open seat. Bridgewater should run.

Matheson is running for Governor. Word is he is tired of travelling to DC every week and tired of campaigning every two years. He is much better known than Herbert. This is the Democrats best chance at winning the governor's race since his dad retired.

And if he loses he just tries again for governor or runs for the senate or the new redistricted Democrat-leaning house seat two years later.

Tom from Morgan | 1:22 p.m. July 10, 2009

Anyone but Eager. She would be a disaster.

Let's Show Bernick | 1:26 p.m. July 10, 2009

Let's show Bernick a thing or two about grass-roots politics. Bring on the GOP convention!

Let's also show Mitt Romney that he misread Utah politics and only hurt himself by allying himself with Bennett.

Get self educated Utah | 2:18 p.m. July 10, 2009

Why is Utah so scared of these RINO's?. Conservatives and public schooling. It's the same with public schooling. Bush has made education a central theme of his presidential campaign, as if he were indeed running for national superintendent of schools. He's got a federal reform plan that will finally fix public schools all across America, after 100 years of admitted failure. What Bush and so many other conservatives don't want to recognize is that public schooling has failed not for lack of the right reform but simply because it is inherently defective. It is impossible to find a better example of socialistic central planning than public schooling. A central board of elected or appointed commissars, whether at a national, state, or local level, plans, in a top-down fashion, the educational decisions of thousands or hundreds of thousands of children. Attendance is coerced. People are forced to fund the system through taxation. Students are required to listen to state-approved doctrine from state-approved schoolteachers using state-approved textbooks.

Anonymous | 2:34 p.m. July 10, 2009

A freshman is all wet behind the ears, someone should let this freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah,know when he says he won't close the door on running against Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, next year. Conservatives and public schooling. It's the same with public schooling. Bush has made education a central theme of his presidential campaign, as if he were indeed running for national superintendent of schools. He's got a federal reform plan that will finally fix public schools all across America, after 100 years of admitted failure. What Bush and so many other conservatives don't want to recognize is that public schooling has failed not for lack of the right reform but simply because it is inherently defective. It is impossible to find a better example of socialistic central planning than public schooling. A central board of elected or appointed commissars, whether at a national, state, or local level, plans, in a top-down fashion, the educational decisions of thousands or hundreds of thousands of children. Attendance is coerced. People are forced to fund the system through taxation. Students are required to listen to state-approved doctrine from state-approved schoolteachers.

Old Fossil | 5:36 p.m. July 10, 2009

Bennett is a calcified, relic, a living fossil. He broke his promise to serve only two terms. That's disgusting. Lying to the public like that just reeks in my view. What a truth-challenged fellow he is. Utahns need to rise up against this guy and teach him a lesson in basic honesty.

Bennett, you did not tell the truth. Tsk, tsk.

It's | 7:12 p.m. July 10, 2009

time for him to retire and enjoy playing golf. Give the young ones a chance to take the spot light for a change.

John A. | 10:28 p.m. July 10, 2009

Mr Bernick; the last thing I want is a "shrewd" politician representing me. How about honest and trustworthy for starting qualifications?

@Tom from Morgan | 10:53 p.m. July 10, 2009

Actually, based on the choices we have, or likely to have Cherilyn Eagar is the best on for US Senate.

However, Bob Bennett should realize there are enough good choices that he doesn't need to run again.

Bennett not 'moderate' | 9:04 a.m. July 11, 2009

| 9:21 a.m. July 10, 2009
I'm not surprised to hear that Sen Bennett is among the ten most liberal Republicans in the Senate, which must rank him, not as a moderate, but as a left-wing RINO.

His record is clear enough with regard to the bank bailouts. Of the Utah delegation, the House members all voted against them; Hatch voted for the Senate version of the bill, and Bennett actively and enthusiastically PROMOTED the bailouts from the start. That also marks him as a leftist.

Bennett, almost predictably, is on record as receiving considerable largesse from banking interests.

Thank you, Bob Bernick Jr, for pointing out that Bennett is precisely the kind of politician he appears to be, a wealthy, back room, Machiavellian who is indeed "shrewd", although some would say a sly bugger.

Sandy Republican | 8:10 p.m. July 11, 2009

The only thing that seems scary are all the comments from people that think Bennett will be easy to beat. A review of Bernick's record of predicting elections shows that he has a good grasp on pulse of this State. So, everyone that thinks Bennett will lose should be more careful with your predictions, and I am not saying this because I am pro-Bennett. I plan to listen to all of the candidates before I make a decision, as the election is still more than a year away.

Voter | 10:51 p.m. July 11, 2009

Time for Bailout Bob [Bennett, not Bernick] to retire.

Too long, too liberal, too old, too lazy. He only cares about trying to look conservative just before elections, then goes back to being a "good old boy" in the elite club of 100 Senators.

Shurtleff has the name recognition to beat him in the convention IF EVERYONE OPPOSED TO BENNETT works hard. Bennett is busy locking up state office holders who will be delegates, and we need to convince them to keep an open mind.

It may very well be a Matheson vs. [Republican nominee?) for Senate race. Giving Obama a 61st Democrat to prevent filibusters would be a disaster for our country.

Shurtleff for Senate! Bennett for retirement!

18 months.. | 5:52 p.m. July 12, 2009

We have Senator Bennett for 18 months more. We can provide good ideas and support before voting him out.

@ Voter
You can't stack the precincts state wide.

We do need delegates that are open to change.

Matheson isn't running for Senate. Either way, we need to vote for the best candidate for the GOP nominee. name recognition isn't the answer. We need someone like Chaffetz, and the closest one running is Eagar.

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