Mormon Politicians From Utah Feel Tea Party Heat

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COALVILLE, Utah — Jacqueline Smith fits no one’s stereotype of a political kingmaker. A home-schooling Mormon mother of five, Ms. Smith lives in a modest ranch-style house here in the mountains outside Salt Lake City with her husband, Cleve, a plumbing contractor.

But in the muscular arena of Tea Party and so-called Sept. 12 groups that have surged into dominance in Utah over the last year, places like Coalville and the Smith house have become unlikely stations for politicians to come kiss the ring.

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a six-term Republican who faces re-election next year, has been among Ms. Smith’s supplicants, seeking the endorsement of her group, the STAR Forum, for Save The American Republic, and others like it.

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In addition to Mr. Hatch, two other Republicans closely associated with Utah are likely to be in the national spotlight next year — Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former governor of Utah, both possible presidential candidates.

And the three, Mormons all, are facing varying degrees of revolt where they might least like it or expect it — in their own backyard among mostly Mormon Tea Party members who are pushing for still more conservative fortitude.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/us/politics/15utah.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all