Posted on 05/11/2008 1:07:00 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Rep. Chris Cannon barely escaped with his political life Saturday.
Jason Chaffetz, a former chief of staff to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., nearly knocked off the incumbent in the Republican State Convention, but instead will face Cannon in a June 24 primary.
"A win is a win," said Chaffetz. "We're going to go out and take it to Cannon right from Day 1."
Chaffetz captured 563 Republican delegate votes, or 59 percent of the total. Cannon received votes from 391 delegates, 41 percent of the total. Chaffetz could have captured the nomination outright with 60 percent of the vote - a 10-vote swing.
"Utah has a very interesting political system. We love it. A guy can get 600 people to vote for him and he can be a congressman," said Cannon who said he will run on his record of getting things done for Utah.
Cannon received the endorsement of David Leavitt, who was eliminated in the second round of balloting. He is the former Juab County attorney and brother of former governor and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
"We did not expect this. We expected Leavitt to come out ahead, but it's better to be in a primary with Chaffetz than Leavitt," Cannon said, because Leavitt has more name recognition and money than Chaffetz.
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
Chris Cannon is an open borders advocate who is not interested in border security or national sovereignty. The voters of Utah need to fire Cannon.
Maybe, but we have quite a bit more to fall before we figure it out.
Time for some fresh blood.
I hope not.
I hate to say it, but I can’t see a Huntsman staffer being particularly different than Cannon.
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.