1. Thirty-two votes. That’s all Orrin Hatch needed to clinch the
nomination for a seventh term at the Utah Republican State
Convention this weekend. Instead he’ll be forced into a June
primary. He’s still heavily favored to win, but I
wondered if Hatch made a mistake by attacking his opponents as
“radical libertarians” right as the tide was turning in his favor.
The senator later
backtracked.
2. The biggest upset at the Utah GOP gathering came in the race
for the 4th district congressional nomination. Saratoga Springs
Mayor Mia Love stole the show with her speech and then clinched on
the second ballot, taking over 70 percent of the vote. The
likeliest outcome going into the convention was a primary between
Love and Carl Wimmer, a former state legislator who had been
endorsed by U.S. Sen. Mike Lee and Utah Attorney General Mark
Shurtleff. Shurtleff’s backing turned out to be less of a blessing
than a curse.
Love had already brought down the house and won endorsements
from opponents who were eliminated on the first ballot. Speaking in
support of Wimmer, Shurtleff advised Utah Republicans to “pick a
person with a proven record” rather than a “novelty.” Love, the
daughter of Haitian immigrants, is black. The crowd booed and some
felt it put Love over the top. Shurtleff apologized, Wimmer
endorsed the nominee, and Love will now get a chance to take on
Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson this fall.
3. Virgil Goode won the Constitution Party presidential
nomination this weekend. The former Virginia congressman — who had
previously been elected as a Democrat, independent, and Republican
— is the conservative third party’s most politically experienced
nominee. Unlike Alan Keyes four years
ago, Goode was able to overcome his record of supporting the
Iraq war and the Patriot Act. The Constitution Party opposes both
policies. Darrell Castle, the party’s 2008 vice presidential
nominee, made a last-ditch effort to derail Goode but came up short
in his own bid for the nomination.
4. Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary lost much of its luster once
native son Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign, but
it will still be worth noting how large the anti-Mitt Romney vote
will be. I’m not aware of any polls that have been done at the
state level since Santorum called it quits. In 2004, Howard Dean
managed to win his home state of Vermont after he had already ended
his presidential bid. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, who were both
born in Pennsylvania, are still in the race.
5. On Friday, there was speculation that Gingrich wouldn’t be in
the race much longer when word came that campaign stops in North
Carolina and elsewhere were on hold. The campaign later
blamed a “communications glitch” and confirmed that they will
press on. Romney has struggled in Southern states on his way to the
Republican nomination.
6. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia
isn’t sure he will vote for Barack Obama in November, though he
says he isn’t sold on Romney either. “I am just waiting for it to
play out. I am not jumping in one way or another,” he said. “I’m
worried about me.” Manchin is running for reelection this year in a
state Obama is almost certain to lose.
