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Colin E. Braley / AP
Senator Orrin Hatch, along with his wife Elaine, thanks his supporters after his primary win Tuesday night.
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch accomplished Tuesday night what few other veteran Republican senators have done in recent years, managing to fend off a primary challenge from his right.
The Associated Press declared Hatch the projected winner of the Utah Republican Senate nomination, emerging victorious in the first primary the veteran senator had faced since first being elected in 1976.
Conservatives had targeted Hatch for defeat this cycle, throwing their support behind state Sen. Dan Liljenquist, who hoped the Tea Party wave that has caused heartburn for establishment Republicans would carry him to victory versus Hatch.
Beating Hatch would have marked a significant changing of the guard in Utah, one of the most deeply Republican states, where the GOP primary serves often as the de-facto general elections. Conservatives managed to deny longtime Utah Sen. Robert Bennett (R) renomination during the 2010 elections. Mike Lee rallied conservative activists to deny Bennett the GOP nod, and was subsequently elected to the Senate that fall.
Hatch had seemed to have learned the lessons of that campaign, working assiduously to secure his conservative flank and building a warchest to beat back a Tea Party challenge.
He tacked to the right in tone and on certain key votes, locking up endorsements from talk radio favorites and even former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who’s more often than not endorsed challengers to established Republican lawmakers than the incumbents themselves.
Hatch's re-election strategy offered a roadmap for entrenched Republicans looking to fend off a conservative challenge. The Utah senator's approach broke, for example, from that of Sen. Richard Lugar's. The Indiana senator had largely been defiant of Tea Party forces, and lost a primary to State Treasurer Richard Mourdock earlier this year. Both Hatch and Lugar took office in 1977.
The early and aggressive effort by Hatch included an attempt to scare off would-be challengers before they even entered the race. The senator was particularly public in taking on two-term Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who had been viewed as a potentially formidable challenger but ultimately declined to run for Senate.
A major trump card for Hatch, though, came in the form of Mitt Romney. Perhaps no endorsement for Hatch was more important than Romney’s, who is held in high esteem in Utah due to his own Mormon faith, as well as the work Romney had done in 2002 to turn around the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Romney appeared with Hatch in Utah earlier this month to underscore his support for the longtime senator.
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This is a mormon thing. Hatch probably has 200 wives with off-sprint that kept him voted in.
Deport yourself,you belong in a more socialist country.
Deport ... look at that picture ... you really think 199 other women would be attracted to that??????
In the past Sen. Hatch gave me the impression of man who stuck to his principles would buck convention if necessary but in the end he would do whatever it took to stay in office. Sad.
another old career politician who gets to keep his cush job doing....well basically nothing but taking care of themselves and the lobbyists they want to.
You know, if the republicans would drop all of this nazi like "let the poor people die and rid the US of the surplus population" rhetoric ... if they would have actually tried to help the country instead of spending time working on abortion and gays ... if they would have made the attempt to help the economy instead of doing nothing so they could point at this election and say, "see I told you so", they could have beaten Obama easily.
They didn't.
They sacrificed America for this election and the people know it. Mitt has no chance and even he knows it. The republicans blew the perfect opportunity to prove how useful they were. To prove how much they could do, but instead, sat back and watched as America circled the drain ... and the American people know this. Look at the rating for this republican congress. The lowest EVER in history.
Still think the people don't know who you really are and who you really work for?
The little bubble world that these teapublicans live in is about to burst. When that happens ... and its coming folks ... will the republicans have the stones to kick the extremists to the road and put this country first? Will they become the grand patriots of old? Will they stop selling themselves to corporate America and work the the people instead? Only time will tell if the republicans can ever be great again but sadly, that day isn't today.
No its people like RL56 that is what is wrong with this country, despite the failures of the Bush administration they go on blaming those that were elected and appointed to fix the mess that Bush made. I am beginning to believe there are no republicans left in the republican party and they have been replaced by the American Taliban.
So John - After 3 1/2 yrs of the absolute worst deficit, unemployment and welfare numbers in the history of America you still whine about bush??? You are a FOOL. Throw in his mexican amnesty and obamacare and you have the single most detrimental person to ever set foot in America.
obama sucks worse in 2012
No deport you are wrong. Of course that is nothing new for a conservative to be wrong. Whine about Bush? You must be the dumbest rock in the pile. How do you thing we got to the largest deficit? Republican talking points are not facts, the truth is the only amnesty was given by your stinking azzhole president Reagan. Obama care is good for this country, to many ways to list them all here. You are the fool, complete and utter brain dead republican. The American people had better wake up before its to late and conservatism returns us to the days before civil rights. Americans do not deserve dolts like you.
This proves the people in Utah believe in INSANITY, this Lifetime pOLITICIAN VOTED FOR THE TWO bills that took away our 1st and 5th amendment rights, he also voted for increased spending along with obamination. when are the people of this country going to stop the bleeding we need americans in congress not corrupt politicians that vote in illegal bills against the citizens of this country, damn you people.
Just can't believe this guy won the primary. If there was ever an entrenched incumbent Senator who has contributed to the mess our County has found itself, it's this guy and all the other entrenched Senators be they Republican or Democratic. I guess people simply get the government they deserve, and Utah evidently wants more of the same which they will get with this guy.
Hatch is a good and honorable man but has been enculturated by longevity in office to be just another minion of Wall St and corporate America. He has always been a tool of the Mormon Church-in fact part of their "establisment and heirarchy", but he defeated the radical right Tea Party and that is a good thing..( I hope).
Hatch may be a dinasour, but electing another Teathug to Washington would have been akin to out of the frying pan and into the fire. Washington has enough obstructionists as it is.
After reading this 3 times and checking out about 20 posts....... I got nothing.
hatch is good, he will help slow obozo
Conservatism +Tea Party= Trailor Park Fascism
obama + wetbacks + obamacare + failed economy = destruction
deport..."wetbacks"? dude...seriously...we all see you're nothing more than a racist. STFU.
Deport, this post confirms how brain dead you are. Name one thing in Obama care that does not benefit you personally. You can't. This bill that your handlers object to actually helps 30 million people to have access to basic health care. Thats number one. We as a nation spend twice as much for our health care and yet leave 50 million people without access. We rank dismally (38th) in quality of care and you want more of the same. Like I said, your brain dead.
@Deport....Seriously dude if you insist on being that dumb, at least be original, stop copying my style!!!! lol
Insanity, Albert Einstein observed, is to do the same things over and over while expecting different results. So with our country in a death spiral spin, we go on electing the same people who put it there again and again. Meanwhile, Democrats blame Republicans, Republicans blame democrats and everybody with his brain locked in neutral is happy.
"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and
epochs, it is the rule." Friedrich Nietzsche.
The tide its slowly turning, and they know it, minority will become the majority, but we need structure and unison, within our communites. The White Devil has used this weakness to keep us down for too long, dividing and conquering. Since the raping of the American Indians, through the bondage of slavery, Jim Crow's segregation and now the vilification and persecution of all non-white immigrants trough racial profiling of all sorts.
RISE UP!!! VOTE DEMOCRAT! UNITED! if so we will make the tea party look like a Little League's team. They can keep their booze and their guns, we will keep this country.
Well folks this one you have to think out. Mr. Hatch might be an old reptile, but so are the leaders of the Mormon Church. The simple facts are simple, The Mormon Church doenst want a damn thing to do the this so-called tea party. They have and are still watching thier candidate have to serve the tea parties whins and not the mormon church. Dont forget the chruch is a cult and not a religion. Well there u have why the teas party cant get rid of hatch..
When the knuckle-dragging Neanderthals of the right and pie-in-the-sky flower children of the left are all sent packing we may again see sanity act as something of the norm. The Tea Party is a one-trick pony and to even BEGIN to think about returning to a day that never was is insane. Hatch has done a fine job and the drooling pinheads of the Tea Party should take their limited intelligence and do something they're more suited for. Like fishing. America needs to head back to the center. Cons and libs only add to our continued downfall.
leading us down a conservative path with conservative wisdom
Actually - that statement shows exactly why this nation is in trouble. Conservatives leading us down a conservative path - liberals leading us down a liberal path. With no regard to what is really the correct path - the path that leads to a stable economy and a stable society. Just stick to that conservative agenda - that liberal agenda - don't give any thought to the harm that is doing.
Orrin, your expiration date was up long ago. It's another sad day in America, one more lifetime politician blocking the way for progress and prosperity.
Or - a politician with the seniority and the experience to get for his constitutes what that younger/newbe politician won't be able to get.
We wonder why the corruption in this country never ends yet we keep electing the same corrupt politicians. It's our own fault this country is in shambles and it's our own fault the world hates us for murdering people and violating civil rights. We could just blame our government sure, but we're the idiots that keep electing the same crooks in our government.
@Keith...well its a simple choice really, you can vote for an old crook albeit more mentally stable (Hatch) or you can vote for a younguer deranged tea bagger crook (liljenquist), i think the "idiots" did well on this one.
Or you can vote for a new corrupt politician who still needs to get rich on the backs of the taxpayers or an old one that already has his money/wealth and is more free to make decisions that actually benefit his constitutes.
I wish MSNBC would spend more time reporting on the issues instead of just the process and the battle. Why did Hatch win? How do his policy positions differ from the other candidates? More news, less drama please.
To be frank, Both the GOP, & Dems have left me a little underwhelmed. BUT, this Tea Party thing is so over the top. They only seem to be able to point out the problems. A Golden Retriever can do the same job much cheaper. BUT, they NEVER seem to have any ANSWERS to these problems they point out. Anyway, we need to get away from the partisan thinking, and vote for who actually has the best plan to right the ship. Also, there has to be some cooperation with the party in office. EVERYONE loses when the main objective is to dethrone who is in office, all the while forgetting about the people you are voted in to serve. If these guys can't play in the sandbox together, we need to get rid of the whole lot of them GOP,DEM,TeaParty, and start from scratch. Because while the parties bicker back and forth, it's US the people who suffer. If you don't like the President in office, that's your right, but while he is in there, we gotta work with him. 4 years is a very long time to hold a grudge, and make no progress because you are unhappy with what THE PEOPLE have chosen. Everyone knows that Bush wasn't the best, but the country supported him even when they didn't agree with him because he was OUR President. When the time came, WE voted him out. NOW, we need to work with the current President. If you don't like the job he's doing then cast you vote against him. BUT, if he wins again, that means that the majority like him. That's the basis of Democracy. You can't be a sore loser and claim to be an American. BUT, this minority of Te Party people are the loudest bunch. I've never met a person who was actually HELPED by this Tea Party, except another Tea Party MEMBER.
Oh yeah, if you are the type of person that instead of actually adding to this your opinion, you are grading it for grammer, and punctuation, you are the same person that I mentione earlier. Quick to point out a problem, but have nothing positive to add to the mix...
Ian - Don't you want the problems identified??? I am far from being a tea party member but further from welfare loving democraps. obama & his failed polices are like a boulder rolling downhill. EVERYTHING he has touched has gone to crap. He has created the highest deficit ever, has the most unemployed has more people on welfare than in history and now this amnesty thing. Is is an IDIOT that has damaged America almost beyond repair.
obama suck more in 2012
@Deport...your ignorance and dumbness its beyond repair.
Perhaps not, may I suggest, look into the 8 loooong years of the Bush/Republican administrations, so you can be enlightened as to who is the real "IDIOT" who "damaged" America. The rest its just sh*t planted into your brain by your handlers.
Tea Party = Evil! Avoid!
The Tea Party is most vulnerable in places like Utah where they have no strong left to contrast themselves against. Then they stand out as the collection of kooks and fools they are.
I could care less about Hatch. I just want to see KING LIB TARD booted.....don't let the door hit cha where the good lord split ya Barack......HA HA HA....gonna be good!!!
I guess any political stories deserve this joke,
Q- What do you call a busload of politicians at the bottom of the sea?
A- A good start.