Posted on 06/24/2008 10:00:45 PM PDT by LdSentinal
Jason Chaffetz's promise to change Washington, starting with Rep. Chris Cannon, resonated with Republican voters, who appear to have ousted the six-term incumbent in a Republican primary tonight.
"You rock, and you rocked the Republican Party," Chaffetz told supporters gathered in Springville, shortly after polls closed. "We've done this all with volunteers, with no free meals and no polling. We've done it the right way. You can never convince me that one person can't make a difference."
With nearly three-quarters of precincts counted, Chaffetz led Cannon by more than 20 points. Chaffetz now advances to face Democrat Bennion Spencer in November. Results by the minute
The seat strongly favors Republicans.
Cannon, meeting with backers gathered at the Historic Utah County Courthouse in Provo, was not conceding defeat, but said a loss would not be the end of the world.
"Either we win or we lose, but politics doesn't end," said Cannon, sunburned from a day of doing honk-and-waves.
In many ways, the battle between Chaffetz and Cannon is a snapshot of national trends, reflecting a discontent with Congress, high gas prices and a shaky economy.
Chaffetz, who is president of the consulting firm Maxtera Inc. and former chief of staff to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., launched his campaign nearly two years ago, meeting with Republican delegates to lay the groundwork for his challenge.
Chaffetz hammered away at Cannon, running a relentless campaign targeting Congress' failure to control government spending, fix immigration and energy policies, and eliminating the federal government's role in public education.
Cannon has cited his conservative credentials, his work to develop oil shale in order to bring down gas prices, and said he has the experience and seniority to represent the district in Washington.
Chaffetz fell 10 votes shy of eliminating Cannon at the Utah Republican Convention, forcing him to a primary. Cannon out-raised Chaffetz by nearly 7-to-1, had the endorsements of President Bush and Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennet, and spent tens of thousands of dollars on polling.
Chaffetz and his fleet of volunteer staff put their efforts into organizing a grassroots effort.
A poll conducted last week by Brigham Young University found widespread discontent with the current state of the country in the 3rd Congressional District, indicating voters were looking for a change.
"It's not the best time to be part of the Washington establishment, incumbent member of Congress crowd, so you may find that people will go more heavily for Chaffetz, not because they know much about him, but because they're against Cannon," said Quin Monson, assistant director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. "It's a tough environment for Cannon to be in."
The Cannon campaign spent weeks trying to identify the congressman's supporters and will be pulling out the stops to make sure they get to their polling places on Tuesday. Chaffetz has identified captains in each precinct in the district responsible for getting his voters to the polls.
Holly Richardson, who has 20 adopted children, said she felt like Chaffetz "walked the walk with his fiscal discipline," and liked his stance on fixing legal immigration and repealing the No Child Left Behind Act.
"This is the first campaign I've helped on. None before Jason's have grabbed me," she said.
Now if we can get other Republicans defeated, we will be making some progress.
#1 to go next should be Don Young of Alaska. His R opponent actually has a shot at an upset!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Stevens needs to go... badly.
This made my day. Thank you to patriotic Utahns!
HOO-RAH!!
Exactly! Tne conservative base is Po’d and growing more so day by day. 2006 should have woke up the RNC/GOP...it’s been estimated 16 to 20% of base Republican voters stayed home.
Conservative are tired of watching the elected Republicans cave in to every RAT idea/plan.
In addition to no back bone or leadership within the party we see fringe groups like the huckster or Paul crowd actually gaining ground.
Now we have McCain and should he win the R candidates of 2010 will mirror his policies. You wont see any Republican running against his policies in 2010.
Our choice this year is either disaster 1 or disaster 2......
Buckle up FRiends it’s going to be a rough ride.
This may be how we keep from losing more seats. If we knock out the incumbents, maybe voters will be OK with electing republicans that weren’t part of the problem.
Of course, if the guy who lost gets nasty about it, it’s rarely good for the party.
“It’s time to start draining the swamp, and this is the first move towards pulling the plug on the RINOs.”
>>>>>>>>>>>...................
Then support the man running against Lindsey Graham in SC.
he IMO is RINO number #2 behind MCCAIN.
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