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…then tonight was his night, at least in my precinct. At triple the turn out from two years ago, our caucus was hot, full, and gray. Gray haired, that is. Of the thirty-seven people who showed, over twenty were well into their Social Security years.
Not too surprisingly, they came supporting Senator Hatch. Within a few seconds of the opening of nominations for state delegate, Gentleman X (who I know from church) stood to nominate Gentleman Y (also, from church and not a year younger than 70, either of them). I looked over at the nominee–Gentleman Y–and there in his hand is a stack of mailers featuring Orrin’s stately image.
Speeches began, and Gentleman Y laid out his support for Orrin Hatch. He spoke for a good three minutes longer than we let anyone else, mostly because after him we put the kibosh on long speeches, but also, because once questions began, it became more of a free-flowing debate. The questions ranged from the benign “Who do you support for Senator/Governor?” to the more aggressive “Would you still support Senator Hatch if you knew he co-sponsored the individual mandate with Senator Kennedy?”
Why did he do well? A few simple reasons seemed clear:
- No one, even the solid Hatch supporters, could unequivocally support him, and that included the gray-haired Gentleman Y who held forth on Hatch’s behalf. “Better then devil you know than the devil you don’t know,” was their theme, and they don’t know who would replace him.
- The seniority argument got a lot of play, as did Hatch’s potential seat as chair of the finance committee if Republicans take the Senate.
- Mitt Romney’s endorsement made huge strides when in doubt. A quick straw poll of the precinct showed overwhelming support for Romney’s candidacy.
Related articles
- Freedom Path “Two Scoops…” Mailer Misses the Truth on Double-Dipping (publiusonline.com)
- Sen. Hatch talks about re-election campaign ahead of Thursday Caucus (fox13now.com)
- “Time Changed Hatch” Mailer Factually Correct (publiusonline.com)
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Don’t forget about the State Auditor race with a former legislator with (as far as I can see) no auditing experience hoping to win.
Glen, most state auditors in our history have never really had much auditing experience. It’s an elected position because policy is involved, too, not merely the functioning of a CPA. If that was all there was too it, then it would probably be a merit position hired by the governor. My understanding of why Dougall is seeking the position is because of the laxity the auditor has given to overseeing things like the DABC (remember how folks there were selling stuff on the sly to themselves for a profit?) and such lazy auditing. Dougall, in my experience, is a fairly assiduous processor of information and very devoted to keeping government honest…which is exactly what the auditor is supposed to do.
“hot, full, and gray” – those are three words I hope to never see together again.
My caucus had six times as many people as two years ago. There were far more old people than we’ve ever had. And though we did have some Hatch vocalists, our delegates were a clean sweep for Liljenquist. I ran for delegate and chatted with some of the “hot, full, and grays” and won them over with info. That’s gotta be the next step. That, and getting Freedom Works to tone it down a few notches.
Granted…maybe not the best combination of words. But it was hot. The room was full. And there was a lot of gray. (How’s that?)