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.)
Huh why don't you ask spiff who posted twice the # of threads, and his side lost bigtime.
Spiff is not the one denying that this is an important issue. You are. So what's your answer?
Regardlesss of turnout, how does a challenger garner 44% of the vote against one of the most conservative members of Congress in "one of the most conservative districts in the US?" Immigration can be a winner for the GOP as it was for Bilbray. This should be a wake-up call.
Uh that the turnout in Salt Lake County was very low(7%).
After being bombarded for a month that this was a referendum on immigration, the voters that your side hoped would come out as a tidal wave stayed home and gave a big yawn to what even the tancredo/bay buchanan PAC said was a referendum on immigration.
Uh Jacob got a whopping 2% bump, while spending 6 times the amount Cannon's challenger did in 04 and focusing on the same issue, immigration.
Plus there was massive local publcity for this "immigration referendum" and the voters still gave a big yawn.
Then why post 6 threads and 247 comments this week?
Faith prompts most to welcome illegal entrants
Denver Post/April 2, 2006
By Michael Riley Salt Lake City —
"At a bustling Latino market on Salt Lake's west side, dusty workmen munch plates of carnitas at a lunch counter while shoppers scan the aisles for goodies like stewed chipotles or fresh tomatillos.
Behind the cash register, a Peruvian immigrant named Karin says she loves Utah. And even better, this state seems to love her back.
"My aunt told me you can get a (driver's) license, you can go to university. That was a big reason I came," said Karin, 25, who said she plans to take advantage of a law that allows illegal immigrants to get in-state tuition by studying nursing. Shuffling through a pile of invoices nearby, Teresa Campos, the store manager, nods knowingly.
"I've lived in California. I've lived in Las Vegas. No place is like this," Campos said. Here, "they don't think just because we don't have papers we aren't human beings."
Amid the country's caustic immigration debate, Utah may be the closest thing these days to an immigrant paradise.
Utah is the most Republican state in the country. But the state's more than 95,000 undocumented immigrants can legally drive with a "driving privilege card" created last year. They can go to any public university or community college and pay in-state tuition.
Many of the state's otherwise conservative lawmakers are major players nationally in pushing for a more open immigration policy.
In 2003, conservative stalwart Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, sponsored the Dream Act, a bill that would have removed federal penalties for states that want to give illegal immigrants a college tuition break.
"Politically and philosophically, I'm a conservative," said Marco Diaz, chairman of the Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly. "We can be conservative and still be compassionate. It's not just a slogan in Utah," he said. But it is a paradox.
Political observers seeking to explain the state's unusual embrace of immigrants point to a variety of factors, many involving the state's dominant faith.
Over the last several decades, the Mormon church has sent thousands of Utahans to Latin America on two-year missions to preach and proselytize, creating strong links between the region and people who went on to become some of the state's top policy-makers.
Utah Republican Rep. Chris Cannon went on a mission in Guatemala in the 1970s. The state's attorney general, who has adopted two Mexican-American children, spent two years in Peru.
But one of the strongest influences, experts say, is embedded in the central doctrine of the Mormon faith, a force with enormous influence over both politics and society here.
The Book of Mormon teaches that a lost tribe of Israelites known as the Lamanites landed on the American continent in 600 B.C. and are the forefathers of the native peoples of Mexico and Central and South America.
Many Mormons see the tens of thousands of Latin American immigrants who have arrived in the seat of the church as guided by the hand of God to be converted and become critical players in an unfolding religious tale of biblical proportions.
"The Mormon church has taken a position that is pretty clear.
They are a proselytizing church, and they view the people coming to Utah as a great group of people to convert," Cannon, a four-term congressman and a Mormon, said.
Not that there isn't some trouble brewing. Recently, opponents have fought back in Utah, wielding their own version of church theology.
They note that the Book of Mormon emphasizes obeying the law and that prospective converts must swear that they deal honestly with other people before they can enter a Mormon temple. Both are inconsistent with crossing the border illegally, critics say. "Whether there is love of our fellow man is beside the point.
The point is they are breaking the law," said state Rep. Glenn Donnelson, who launched an unsuccessful effort during this year's legislative session to rescind both in-state tuition and the driver's privilege cards.
With politicians now battling in Washington over competing visions for the country's immigration policy, both sides are looking to Utah to see whether the state's approach holds any larger policy lessons.
sw
Hey it wasn't I who put $50,000 into this race ala the tancredo/bay buchanan PAC.
They thought it was an "immigration referendum" and they lost bigtime.
Uhhh, maybe the collection plate?
With Jacob's defeat, are the Tom Tancredo Fan Club members going to spew anti-Mormon hatred now? After all, since Mormons are indifferent to the Mexican Invasion does this mean the LDS are traitors? :)
It's already started.
"They are a proselytizing church, and they view the people coming to Utah as a great group of people to convert," Cannon, a four-term congressman and a Mormon, said.
sw
"Everybody's a freelancer these days" Beverly Hills Cop #1
Chris Cannon is Mormon? Thanks. Now it all comes together. Never once have I seen mentioned he is Mormon. BTW I have nothing against Mormons except for promotion of illegal immigration ..... And polygamy
Judging from his comments on the news last night, I'd say not. He still believes that enforcing the law is an extremist position. *sigh*
Whew colorcountry, the bitter tancredoites are really building bridges to the Mormons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.