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Sen. Bob Bennett (R, UT) will not be re-elected.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  May 8th, 2010 at 05:58 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

He was eliminated from the second round of voting.

Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah has lost his bid to serve a fourth term after failing to advance past the GOP state convention.

Attorney Mike Lee and businessman Tim Bridgewater are the remaining Republican candidates after Saturday’s vote.

Bennett was a distant third in the voting among roughly 3,500 delegates. He garnered just under 27 percent of the vote. Bridgewater had 37 percent and Lee 35 percent.

A primary looks likely, unless either Lee or Bridgewater gets almost all of Bennett’s delegates.

As for implications, well, here’s an obvious one: Senator Bob Bennett just discovered that you can’t be from Utah and vote like you’re from Kentucky.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

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  • crassus

    Yep I just saw that.

  • crassus

    But I think that he should be able to raise way more money and win the primary. The question is, will any sitting senators or congressmen endorse in the primary. Also, Bennett is not ruling out a “write-in” primary or general election campaign. So much for not dividing the party and all that.

  • IJB

    Based on these results, I’ve got to figure that Bridgewater will be favored in the eventual primary. That’s disappointing. (What’s the point of replacing Bennett with a virtual clone?…)

  • crassus

    Because

    (1) Lee has far more endorsements and most likely, fundraising ability

    (2) Bridgewater is still better than Bennett, especially on immigration.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    Ach, well. :)

  • tjexcite

    We will know now what kind of politician was/is Bob Bennett. Is he going to take his defeat and go independent or will he take his huge team and directed them to help winner keep the seat red.

    Even though he will not be senator he and his supporters can be a major adviser to the new one. Or he will just be an opponent and then good reddens.

    Same with Sarah Palin. If Carly does not win will she support the winner?

  • SteveLA

    tjexcite

    Unless he goes write in, boy would that be a long shot, the law in Utah prevents him from running as an I. I posted an entry about that on an earlier blog.

    Bennett is toast.

    If it’s not Carlie or Chuck and Governor Palin supports Campbell…..YIKES that hurts the head. I think she would sit on the side.

  • Doc Holliday

    they are certainly of the same mold, not Tea Party in the least.

  • Doc Holliday
  • streiff

    Mike Lee

  • SteveLA

    Bennett lost, the system in Utah is what it is, there’s family history in this area also if you read up on it, from his father.

    He’s being stupid to be anything other than a gracious looser, take his lumps and maybe work to change the system if he cares so much.

    Good grief, he’s also 76, go enjoy his grand children.

  • Doc Holliday
  • streiff

    I thought Cherilyn Eagar had this locked up based on her 30 years of being a Conservative. I was expecting coronation not a shameful, humiliating first round elimination. The bitter wages of being a shill arc_ut.

  • Mayhem

    The Dem establishment or the GOP establishment?

  • crassus

    Eagar was certainly a strong candidate. No need to alienate people who will be voting in the primary.

    Watch DeMint’s endorsement of Bennett- he was very respectful towards Bennett.

  • crassus

    endorsement of Lee

  • joeinmo

    at the local, state, national, international and intergalactic levels.

    Sat with some of the faithful at the Convention today. Rude. Sat on their hands on points that Mike made that all candidates agreed on. So I doubt that the Eager-bots are going to vote for Lee anyway.

  • stormbringer

    but I would guess he also has great-grandchildren to enjoy as well.

  • streiff

    I’ll do it mine.

    This has nothing to do with Eagar. I have no opinion on her one way or another. Her supporters were obnoxious, disruptive, and basically dishonest. Essentially they were just like Rombots circa March 2008. I plan on rubbing this in for a while as an object lesson to others who consider a career as an ill-bred shill.

  • IJB
  • streiff

    57 – 43

  • IJB

    He nearly got to 60%.

    I think in a state like UT, where “who you know” is very important, Bridgewater is unbeatable at this point.

    Republican primary voters just never learn, do they?…

  • pilgrim

    The good news is that Bob Bennet did not have enough supporters to take Mike Lee out of a runoff election. A lot of bloodshed could have been avoided if Bennet had chosen to retire, but some folks get so enamored with the power of being a US Senator that they just can’t leave gracefully.

  • Scope

    didn’t we read that Bennett was pushing for the next best RINO knowing he would probably lose? The tentacles of the R DC elite are not far removed from the races where they may have influence, albeit under the radar I suppose.

    The big question now should be, what will Bennett do now that he knows he is not going back to Washington at the end of his term. That thought is frightening.

  • pilgrim

    Sure the best scenario would have been for Mike Lee to win over 60% in the third round. The fact that there is a runoff gives Mike Lee an opportunity to win the primary. The results in Utah today are not anything to be frightened about. Bob Bennett appears to be bitter, but he did not have enough power to take Mike Lee completely out. Bennett is 76 years old, and I am not frightened about him doing anything.

  • CowboyUp4419

    Lee’s supported by the Tea Party and it’s the Tea Party that’s seen as responsible for forcing Bennett out. After the second round all those hardcore Bennett-loyalists had to vote for somebody and it certainly wasn’t going to be the guy who caused their chosen candidate to lose his re-election bid. The final convention vote percentage means little to nothing.

  • Scope

    and I am very calm. My point wasn’t about the primaries, it was about what Bennett will do in his final days in the Senate in DC. As Erick has pointed out in his many diaries, Bennett has had some problems with being on our side. Even at 78, or more so because of it, some can get real nasty when something has been taken away from them.

  • tngal

    Bennett considers write-in. Crist goes indie, Scozzafava throws herself into the dem lane. Sometimes, you feel like bad parent. We just haven’t taught them right from wrong.

  • pilgrim

    There is no telling what the lame ducks are going to do between now and January. Let’s just hope the new Congress can clean up the mess.

  • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

    That’s a win-win for us!

  • RINKER

    This should send shockwaves through the Republican establishment.
    When will the primary take place? I hope it isn’t TOO soon. Mike Lee will need time to define the campaign as a true conservative vs. a RINO.

  • satchmo

    Wiping away tears, Bennett called the political atmosphere “toxic” and said it’s, “Clear some of the votes I’ve cast have added to that toxic environment, looking back with one or two minor exceptions, I wouldn’t cast any any differently, even if I knew it would cost me my career.”

    And that’s why you’re out on your ***: you view it as a career.

  • http://www.libertytreehugger.com reverelth

    Mitch McConnell should not assume the deck chairs will be his to rearrange come november.

  • ntrepid

    ?and demonstrating, yet again, that some in this party are just physically not capable of ?getting it?.

    The good Mr. Bennett manages to fuel the revolution even more?unintentionally, I?m sure?with some of that natural, inside-the-beltway elitist entitlement and arrogance galore.

    You hit the ?career? point square on the head. The fact that he apparently could not stop himself (and wasn?t smart enough to hire staff to stop him) from saying something so monumentally stupid says a lot about his current position. A true public servant with proper perspective may have said something like:

    ??so I thank my party and the people of my state for allowing me to serve them in elected office for as long as I have but now, with a little of their help, I will be RETURNING TO MY CAREER.?

    Alas, no such humility.

    Making it worse, his use of ?my? tweaked my ire almost as much. As in ?my seat? or ?my office??thankfully, THE PEOPLE all over this land are reclaiming what is rightfully theirs. Tonight was an excellent step in the right direction.

    Ntrepid
    Proud Redstate Member since April 2006??

  • acat

    …on his deck, at his summer place, having decided to retire.

    The problem with being McConnell at this point is the new Conservatives who will start showing up will not back his brand of “messaging”, and after loss after loss – both to Dems and Conservatives – it’s not likely his RINO friends will keep backing him.

    Retirement may, in fact, be his best move….

    Mew

  • eburke

    are in favor of the big tent approach to the GOP and are always lecturing us neandrathalic conservatives to support anyone with an R after their name.

    It’s us mean-spirited, purist conservatives who take all our marbles and go home when we don’t win

    ::rolling eyes::

  • acat

    Yeah, it’s pop psych, but …

    How often has a RINO blamed his (or her) loss on “unreliable Conservative voters” ?

    Perhaps the blame belongs on unreliable RINO politicians who, once they get the power they crave, abandon the “ones who brung ‘em to the party”.

    Good bye, Bennett.

    Mew

  • eburke

    They’re using words like “angry”, “bitter”, “rage”, and “spiteful” to describe the actions of the UT convention today.

    Trot on over to Yahoo’s home page where the headline is “Bennett thrown out of office”. Not “Bennett defeated in reelection bid” or “Bennett loses bid for renomination”. No…we must use the violent imagery of “Thrown” because, after all, all us conservatives are nothing more than bitter, angry, gun-clingers.

    The bias goes merrily along.

  • acat

    Besides, today is too soon to ask ‘em to change direction.

    Give the news of Eager’s loss a couple days, I’d expect most of the more rational ones who want Bennett gone will come around.

    We’ll see what the True Believers have to say on election day.

    Mew

  • acat

    (would like to have the Depends concession for D.C. right about now)

    Mew

  • eburke

    but arc_ut was insufferable with his constant shilling for Eager. And I could have even lived with that if he would have been content to actually go beyond superficial talking points about her candidacy but he also continually bashed Lee on the thinnest, most specious of grounds. It got beyond annoying after awhile. He singlehandedly managed to get me to take the contribution I had planned on making to the Eager campaign and give it to Lee instead.

    So streiff has his way of rubbing it in…and I have mine :-)

  • saintgeorgegentile

    It should also be noted that on the Dem side Matheson is going to have to run against a leftie opponent (convention results 55% to 45%). She has no money in the bank at the moment against Matheson’s $1M+ but I’m sure it was quite a shock to him. Like the rest of the political hereditary class he believes the seat belongs to him.

  • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

    Wonder if the MSM will talk about this as well, instead of just painting conservatives as “out of touch”?

  • Doc Holliday

    like they are almost happy to finally be able to pull off the mask.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Matheson rarely comes up on the MSM radar. He’s usually listed as having a relatively safe seat even in a red district. HuffPo does have a story http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howie-klein/can-brigham-youngs-great_b_569257.html that of course plays into sex & gender politics. My hope is that she does beat him because she’ll be a much easier target in the fall.

  • pilgrim

    So Morgan can keep his money saved for the general election while Matheson has to spend some of his money in a runoff election against Claudia Wright. It looks real promising for the entire Utah delegation to the US Congress to be Republican after November.

  • whitneymuse

    Hats off to the citizens of Utah; you dumped someone like Bennett; who seemed to have used his office to feather his and his staff’s comfort.

    You need to get rid of the lefties in the WH and administration, this time. I should talk, my State has real crap in its administration; CA. That said, congrats Utah.

  • whitneymuse

    We are in trouble in CA; our taxes are sky high, and I owe property taxes of $4,500 this year, and that’s after prop. 13, too. These donuts out here want to legalize Pot too. Let them get stoned, but you know there will be driving while stoned; and if that happens there will be ETOH intoxication, too.

    It’s nice if you like ocean and sunshine, but you get the crazies too.

  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil_truth

    …and now that you’ve activated you sleeper account, I suspect Moe or one of the other mods will be showing you the door shortly.

    I’m sure you’ll be able to find your way back to the Daily Kos without further assistance.