He did not quit, he will be in office until the expiration of his term in 2015. So he will be in good shape to run for Lee's seat in 2016.
Notice Lee's approval numbers? especially among the GOP in the state as a whole, they stink. The Utah establishment wants Lee out and if Leavitt or some big name establishment candidate cant take Lee out in the primary they will support Matheson in big enough numbers for him to win IMO. The Matheson name is political gold in Utah as you undoubtedly know. He's probably the only Dim that can win a statewide race there.
Mia is not a Conservative, one of Hatch’s to adviser's recently joined her campaign. If you like Hatch you will like Mia but she is not a conservative. I'm not saying this is bad news if you are an establishment Utah Republican but if you are a conservative it increases the chance that Lee will lose exponentially
I think you overstate the power of the Matheson name. Jim is bailing because he knows he won’t win again in 2014 (and he’s never won by overwhelming margins from the get-go). His brother Scott ran for Governor in 2004 and only got 41%. The late Bill Orton performed better in 2000.
LMAO, if this jerk was gonna run for the Senate he wouldn’t be fleeing his House seat in fear.