Posted on 06/27/2006 10:32:40 PM PDT by Spiff
Jacobs Concedes, Cannon Moves on to General Election
June 27th, 2006 @ 11:12pm
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, challenged by a political newcomer who accused the five-term incumbent of being soft on illegal immigration, was leading in Utah's Republican primary Tuesday with more than half of precincts reporting.
Cannon led John Jacob 58 percent to 42 percent, or 19,575 votes to 14,395 votes, with 313 of 623 precincts reporting. That includes 100 percent of returns from Juab, Beaver and Millard counties.
The 3rd Congressional District race focused primarily on who stands taller in opposition to Bush's call for a path to citizenship for some 11 million illegal immigrants.
Cannon voted last December for a House bill that would toughen border security, criminalize people who help illegal immigrants and make being in the U.S. without the required papers a felony. But he also supports Bush's proposal for a guest-worker program and says "there's massive room for negotiation."
Cannon's willingness to compromise made him a target of Team America, a conservative group that calls illegal immigration the most critical problem facing the nation. It spent $40,000 on radio ads criticizing him.
Jacob, a millionaire real-estate developer, favors returning illegal immigrants to their home countries before giving them a shot at U.S. citizenship and punishing businesses for hiring them.
At the state Republican convention last month, Jacob captured 52 percent of the delegate votes while Cannon got 48 percent. Sixty percent was needed to avoid Tuesday's primary.
The winner will face Democrat Christian Burridge, among others, in November in a district that anyone but a Republican has little chance of winning. Bush carried the 3rd District with 77 percent of the vote in 2004.
The sprawling district, which stretches south from Salt Lake County and west to Nevada, is heavily Mormon and predominantly white. Hispanics make up about 10 percent of the population; blacks less than 1 percent.
In 1996, Cannon won the seat, in part by arguing that the Democratic incumbent, U.S. Rep. Bill Orton, was soft on immigration. In 2004, Cannon's actions on the issue prompted conservatives to back Matt Throckmorton, who managed 42 percent in his GOP primary loss.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
This is good news. I live in Utah and Chris Cannon is a good guy.
The people will be watching his votes on illegal immigration.
Why were the polls so far off? Will Cannon become a little tougher on illegal immigration.
If not, he'll be toast in two years.
L
I hope so. But the nation will be watching him on how he casts his votes on illegal immigration.
Why do most polls underestimate Republican turnout in general elections?
Its usually the person taking the poll.
Sometimes there is other factors such as intensity,or you have some prople saying they are going to the polls and they end up not going.
Sometimes, there is bias may show up when taking a poll or even the sample number.
"The people will be watching ..."
Famous last words. They're probably even true. But they're not necessarily relevant. People watch all kinds of things, like television, while remaining passive. That's what just happened tonight.
The results are even worse than I expected. Politicians don't get serious about something like this unless and until a few lose their jobs over it. And with Republicans, that has to be done in primaries.
A bad night and a bad result for those of us who want to control immigration. And not a good night for democracy, either. It makes you wonder if it still really works.
OOOPS!
I dont think so. It win the war you must some lose battles.
In World War II, there was some battles that were lost before the war was won. You will lose some battles before you ultimately win the war.
Considering that it's usually just the base that votes in primaries, that under 20% of the state voted and Cannon scored a double digit win despite the best efforts of an out-of-state PAC, this does send a clear message to the rest of the GOP.
Its a mixed message. Bilbray still won.
I agree. The problem is, we've lost quite a few.
I don't mind losing a few battles, if the general direction of the war is in our favor. But it's far from clear to me that it is. Arguably, we've had almost no victories, and many defeats. While it's true that there haven't been many serious challenges to incumbents based on immigration, and therefore few defeats in that limited respect, it seems to me that the infrequency of serious immigration-based challenges is itself a defeat.
We don't have much time to win this war, which is why I'm impatient. And not optimistic.
LOL.
I see you did not go to college and studied history huh?
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Its the truth. It happens over and over again in history.
The battle may be lost but there are many battles to be fought before we achieve victory.
Yes and I learned how to construct a sentence. You on the other hand....
Despite all the hype and efforts of the Tancredo PAC to energize voters and make this a defining issue, under 20% of Utah voters cared enough to vote. Of those that did, Cannon won by a double digit margin.
Seems pretty clear to me.
Smoke that steer doo-dee and talk to me later.
Its one battle in a long war.
UTAH is DOOOMED!
Stop freebasing that doo-dee.
The most Republican state in the union. Yep, it's doomed.
You can inform your supplier that they do indeed work.
L
He is snorting that steer doo-dee that is in his backyard.
The spin has started.
I hate to break this to you but you folks fired off your big guns and achieve nothing. This wasn't a battle it was a slaughter.
Indeed. Garbage in, garbage out. The voters didn't cotton much to outsiders.
How so?
PING!
LOL! At this rate you folks might have a shot at the 3008 race. I hate to point out the obvious (again) but you folks had all your eggs in this basket...and dropped it. You keep wanting to compare this to the civil war...this wasn't even a blip.
I wont arugue with a person like you. Its useless and a waste of my time.
Yes, but some good causes don't win. The fact that seemingly hopeless causes have occasionally triumphed doesn't prove anything. There are powerful reasons for thinking our society is no longer capable of controlling immigration. I say our society, not just our politicians. If it were just the politicians and not just us, they might eventually go along with us -- probably would. But the problem is us, too. Most of us don't have the guts to work hard for a serious crackdown. I'll believe we're losing battles but winning the war when we actually win a few real battles. Hell, a few big demonstrations against illegals would do. But I'm not holding my breath.
I suspect you're whistling past the graveyard. I would love to be proven wrong.
Kind of like the whole campaign in Utah.
People say they want to crack down on immigration. Yet in one of the most conservative districts in the country, they renominate an open-borders guy. This year and two years ago. Not impressive. If we cannot defend this country's borders -- its very integrity as a society -- by means of the democratic process, the democratic process has failed us.
I think we'd better all quit paying attention to politics now, just stay home from the polls. Jacobs had a Clayton Williams moment, and enough other background issues came out for him to have effectively pissed away the primary, but hey, it must be that Utah thought exactly the way Cannon thinks on immigration...er, thinks on it THIS week, as opposed to last week, or the week before that. No way could this loss have ANYTHING to do with the candidate's mistakes being trumpeted all over the place, especially in the last week. Cannon spent half again as much plus some as Jacobs did, and Cannon raised far more money from his politico and PAC buddies--but Jacob's $40,000 worth of support from Team America was obviously WAY more important in this race. It MUST be that Jacob's policy arguments were shown to be unappealing, too. Yep, just stop bothering, because the FROBL says this 42/58 vote for Cannon, who on the subject of immigration lied, turned tail, hid, and even put on his web site a banner blaring 'stop illegal immigration,' well, that 42/58 vote is a message on how HIS view of stopping illegal immigration is the one Americans favor.
/blistering sarcasm
Being stupid is genetic, being ignorant is inexcusable. Because the illegal immigration issue is all that you eat and breath does NOT equate to illegal immigration is all that this country lives and breaths. There are a hundred other issues that are more important to the well being of this country.
BTW, I hate this us and them stuff, so I really should stop using it. I think Illegal immigration is a problem that needs to be tackled. It's the hysterical short sighted tactics that I disagree with.
It is an issue that needs to be addressed. Fortunately there are fine people like Mike Pence who are addressing it.
And by the way...it's not you or people like you who have made this an "us" verses "them" issue.
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