Ultra Conservative Utah Senator Orrin Hatch Not Conservative Enough to Avoid a Primary Fight for the Senate

Many in Utah Want an Ultra Radical Conservative

Two years ago a very conservative Utah Senator Robert F.  Bennett lost  the right to even engage in a primary contest for the nomination for the Senate seat he had held.  In Utah the Republicans hold a convention and if a candidate gets 60% of the vote at the convention he or she is the nominee.  If a candidate gets less than 60% and does not finish in the top two, that candidate is not even allowed on a primary ballot.  That is what happened two years ago to the incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett, and he was ultimately replaced by an extremely conservative Mike Lee.

Utah’s other Senator, Orrin Hatch wants another term, and noticing what happened to his colleague he has spent the last two years trying to be the most conservative Senator that he can be.  It was enough to keep him in the race, but not enough to avoid a primary fight for the nomination (and certain election) to the Senate from Utah.

The six-term Republican incumbent fell just short of the 60 percent threshold necessary to skirt a June 26 face-off. On the second ballot, Hatch notched 59 percent of the vote to Liljenquist’s 41 percent.

So in mid June Utah will hold a primary, and it will be a real indication of just how far right the Republican party in that state has moved.  Sen. Hatch has shown rare hints of moderation while he has been in the Senate, (but not recently, he had to be 100% pure you know to get re-nomination) and the requirement that a Republican be completely pure on every issue will be up against the leadership position that Sen. Hatch would hold if Republicans take control of the Senate.

As for Senator Hatch, well, he has shown in the last two years that he will do anything to hold on to his Senate seat.  Let’s see if that’s enough.  The guess here at this point, it may not be.