Utah becomes a battleground in the GOP's civil war

[steven johnson]

Across the nation the far right has decided to take on moderate Republicans preferred by GOP insiders. Only about half of the registered voters interviewed said they would like to see their representative reelected next year according to Pew Research.

Change you can believe in might not necessarily be to our liking. The GOP is trying to take back Congress and the far right is trying to consolidate their hold on the GOP.

Utah has emerged as an improbable battleground in the fight for the future of the GOP, as the party's veteran U.S. senator -- with nary a whiff of personal or political scandal -- has become one of the most threatened lawmakers up for reelection next year.

Robert F. Bennett is no Northeast liberal. Raised in Salt Lake City, he built a business, manufacturing day-planners, that made him wealthy. His grandfather was a president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father served four Senate terms -- meaning that, combined with Bennett's own three terms, father and son have held the seat for the better part of 60 years.

Yet those very attributes -- longevity, seniority -- only compound the challenge facing Bennett, who, like other Republicans across the country, faces attack within the party from those who find him insufficiently conservative.

As last week's elections showed, the 2010 campaign is shaping up as another driven by a deep, throbbing anger against the political establishment. President Obama has been a prime target at rowdy town hall meetings and "tea party" protests, and Democrats certainly have much to fear, as they hold the majority in Congress. But the free-floating hostility may pose a danger to members of both parties.


Utah becomes a battleground in the GOP's civil war

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. I say bring on the wackadoodles!

Let them fire up the 20%ers while everyone else recoils in horror.