https://www.axios.com/orrin-ha...mney-2521858462.html

Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Finance Committee chairman and longest-serving Republican member of the Senate, announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of this term, his seventh.

Mitt Romney has been considering a run in the event Hatch retires

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Mitt Romney has been considering a run in the event Hatch retires

Lord help us!

The bad part is Mittens will be running as a republican even though everyone knows he is not. So if he gets the nomination Utah will be screwed either way.

Looks like he is comfortable with his choice for replacement or he knew he was going to lose. Hatch is smart and has his ear to the rails. He knows it's over or he'd be running again.

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Originally posted by darthfuster:
Looks like he is comfortable with his choice for replacement or he knew he was going to lose. Hatch is smart and has his ear to the rails. He knows it's over or he'd be running again.

What does the Republican landscape look like in Utah? Is an establishment pig a shoe-in, or might a real conservative get elected?

I am in Utah.
Although I am rather opinionated, I have never actually gotten involved in politics.
If Mitt runs, I will become highly motivated to get involved...to make certain he is defeated.

Hatch has always just bent with whichever way the wind is blowing. Luckily it generally blows in a very conservative direction here. Hatch suddenly started coming around after Bob Bennett's defeat. It was all self-serving self-preservation, not real conservative ideology.

Hatch will be 83 in March. Not unreasonable if he just decided it was time to retire.

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Originally posted by DrDan:

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Originally posted by darthfuster:
Looks like he is comfortable with his choice for replacement or he knew he was going to lose. Hatch is smart and has his ear to the rails. He knows it's over or he'd be running again.

What does the Republican landscape look like in Utah? Is an establishment pig a shoe-in, or might a real conservative get elected?

Utah is chock full of Republicans. The problem is that most are not paying attention. They vote for a name they recognize. The election is won at the primary. Unfortunately, few attend the caucuses where the platforms are distinguished. If Mitt chooses to run, he'll be hard to beat for that reason alone. There are many, many conservative candidates who would be outstanding in office, but they are unknowns. They are strong on principles but no one knows it. It's a shame. I will work against Romney in the primaries, but will vote for him if he is the R candidate.

The R's may be lucky to hold that seat. Salt Lake is in the top five or six gayest cities in the US, right behind (no pun intended) San Francisco, Portland, and Austin, and they keep electing liberal mayors.

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Originally posted by darthfuster:

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Originally posted by DrDan:

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Originally posted by darthfuster:
Looks like he is comfortable with his choice for replacement or he knew he was going to lose. Hatch is smart and has his ear to the rails. He knows it's over or he'd be running again.

What does the Republican landscape look like in Utah? Is an establishment pig a shoe-in, or might a real conservative get elected?

Utah is chock full of Republicans. The problem is that most are not paying attention. They vote for a name they recognize. The election is won at the primary. Unfortunately, few attend the caucuses where the platforms are distinguished. If Mitt chooses to run, he'll be hard to beat for that reason alone. There are many, many conservative candidates who would be outstanding in office, but they are unknowns. They are strong on principles but no one knows it. It's a shame. I will work against Romney in the primaries, but will vote for him if he is the R candidate.

well said Darth. I too will work against him in the primaries. We don't need a blue state republican in one of the best red states. My concern is Romney has name recognition and I'm not sure many will want to oppose him with that advantage.

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Originally posted by sdy:
Hatch will be 83 in March. Not unreasonable if he just decided it was time to retire.

I agree. There should be an age limit to serve in congress. A lot of those guys are too old in my opinion.

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Mitt Romney has been considering a run in the event Hatch retires

On a hunch I checked...Romney is 70 years old!

Retire for crissake. Read the room, nobody wants to vote a septuagenarian into office.

Fuck Mitt.

FUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKK Mitt.

Also, Fuck Orrin Hatch.

God DAMN.

No one should be in Congress so fucking long, the man is his own time machine. Same goes for Pelosi etc.

It's that old phenomena where everyone hates congress but loves their senator/representative.

Did I mention Fuck Mitt?

What the hell, dickwad? Did you think people would forget your shit prez run, or your signing of a permanent AWB in MA?

Die in a fire. Mitt. Which is also a dumb name.

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Originally posted by cyberiad:

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Originally posted by sdy:
Hatch will be 83 in March. Not unreasonable if he just decided it was time to retire.

I agree. There should be an age limit to serve in congress. A lot of those guys are too old in my opinion.

Hatch is only retiring because his polling shows he'll lose if he runs again. Last year it was 75%+ of the population that wanted him to retire and would vote for any other Republican. When the President came to announce the natl monument amendment Orrin intro'd the pres (who needs no intro). That intro was a love fest of Orrin for himself and a recitation of all of his accomplishments and his vigorous die hard character. Those declarations were italicized by the president. It was so conspicuous that I wondered if the monument was a fig leaf to the real purpose of propping Orrin up for one more term. I think when they ran the poll again and the numbers did not move, he knew it was over. I don't know if Mitt will run. He's pretty much a carpet bagger. He blows into town long enough to let us know he's here and off he goes again. His ties to Utah are so gossamer as to be a glint in the sun.

The last thing Utah needs is another squishy senator like Hatch. The only silver lining is that Mitt is old. He could not do what Hatch did.

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Originally posted by darthfuster:

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Originally posted by DrDan:

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Originally posted by darthfuster:
Looks like he is comfortable with his choice for replacement or he knew he was going to lose. Hatch is smart and has his ear to the rails. He knows it's over or he'd be running again.

What does the Republican landscape look like in Utah? Is an establishment pig a shoe-in, or might a real conservative get elected?

Utah is chock full of Republicans. The problem is that most are not paying attention. They vote for a name they recognize. The election is won at the primary. Unfortunately, few attend the caucuses where the platforms are distinguished. If Mitt chooses to run, he'll be hard to beat for that reason alone. There are many, many conservative candidates who would be outstanding in office, but they are unknowns. They are strong on principles but no one knows it. It's a shame. I will work against Romney in the primaries, but will vote for him if he is the R candidate.

I agree with most of what you say, darthfuster. However, I believe the caucus system makes it easier to resist someone like Mitt. It doesn't take nearly as much effort to mobilize opposition to a high profile candidate in a caucus as it does in a primary.

To those who believe the overwhelming Republican majority in Utah will produce an institutional candidate, I present Mike Lee as a counter argument. Senator Lee has been a very good senator so far, and I'd be happy to have another like him.

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Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

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Originally posted by darthfuster:

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Originally posted by DrDan:

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Originally posted by darthfuster:
Looks like he is comfortable with his choice for replacement or he knew he was going to lose. Hatch is smart and has his ear to the rails. He knows it's over or he'd be running again.

What does the Republican landscape look like in Utah? Is an establishment pig a shoe-in, or might a real conservative get elected?

Utah is chock full of Republicans. The problem is that most are not paying attention. They vote for a name they recognize. The election is won at the primary. Unfortunately, few attend the caucuses where the platforms are distinguished. If Mitt chooses to run, he'll be hard to beat for that reason alone. There are many, many conservative candidates who would be outstanding in office, but they are unknowns. They are strong on principles but no one knows it. It's a shame. I will work against Romney in the primaries, but will vote for him if he is the R candidate.

I agree with most of what you say, darthfuster. However, I believe the caucus system makes it easier to resist someone like Mitt. It doesn't take nearly as much effort to mobilize opposition to a high profile candidate in a caucus as it does in a primary.

To those who believe the overwhelming Republican majority in Utah will produce an institutional candidate, I present Mike Lee as a counter argument. Senator Lee has been a very good senator so far, and I'd be happy to have another like him.

Yes and that is why the establishment Republicans initiated the circumvention process of the caucus system. This has been in the works for a few years. Politics around here is like a chess game and is played several moves ahead of what's on the board. Mike Lee was an accident. The GOPe will do all it can to prevent that from happening again. When Bennett lost his seat, they were asleep at the switch. Now they are wide awake and hoping we are asleep at the switch. I'll be work where the rubber meets the road to elect the most conservative candidate in the running. Mitt is no conservative. He's a chameleon. He shifts to reflect his surroundings. He cannot be trusted.....still more trustworthy than any Dem.

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Originally posted by SIG228:
The R's may be lucky to hold that seat.

Dude, please.

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Originally posted by SIG228:
The R's may be lucky to hold that seat. Salt Lake is in the top five or six gayest cities in the US, right behind (no pun intended) San Francisco, Portland, and Austin, and they keep electing liberal mayors.

Is Salt Lake the only populated location in the entire state of Utah?

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Originally posted by 12131:

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Originally posted by SIG228:
The R's may be lucky to hold that seat. Salt Lake is in the top five or six gayest cities in the US, right behind (no pun intended) San Francisco, Portland, and Austin, and they keep electing liberal mayors.

Is Salt Lake the only populated location in the entire state of Utah?

Yeah, pretty much.

Salt Lake County contains just about a third of Utah’s total population. The Wasatch Front (Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, Summit and Utah Counties contain over three quarters of the states population. Salt Lake and Summit counties are now blue. Davis is going purple. Weber used to be one of the reddest of the red counties but just in the last ten years has begun a fairly dramatic shift to purple and will likely be blue in another ten years.

Between the strong Libertarian streak that’s been found in Utah from the start, rapid population growth from out of state, huge youth population plugged into (left wing) social media, those same kids marrying young and starting their own families and I will be surprised if Utah is still reliably red in even twenty years.

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Originally posted by OcCurt:

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Originally posted by 12131:

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Originally posted by SIG228:
The R's may be lucky to hold that seat. Salt Lake is in the top five or six gayest cities in the US, right behind (no pun intended) San Francisco, Portland, and Austin, and they keep electing liberal mayors.

Is Salt Lake the only populated location in the entire state of Utah?

Yeah, pretty much.

Salt Lake County contains just about a third of Utah’s total population. The Wasatch Front (Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, Summit and Utah Counties contain over three quarters of the states population. Salt Lake and Summit counties are now blue. Davis is going purple. Weber used to be one of the reddest of the red counties but just in the last ten years has begun a fairly dramatic shift to purple and will likely be blue in another ten years.

Between the strong Libertarian streak that’s been found in Utah from the start, rapid population growth from out of state, huge youth population plugged into (left wing) social media, those same kids marrying young and starting their own families and I will be surprised if Utah is still reliably red in even twenty years.

Your analysis is a little skewed. Sure, SL and Summit counties went to Clinton, but that is not an indicator of a trend. Both of those counties voted decidedly for Mike Lee in 2010 and 2016. It was more of an indication of Trump's general unpopularity among Utahns, along with the strong third party candidacy of Evan McMullin. Of the 21% of the votes that went to McMullin, I doubt he was pulling many votes from Hillary. Combine McMullin and Trump, and that vote was over 65%, including majorities in both SL and Summit counties.

The idea that the state will be blue in 10 years is just wild, hair-on-fire, the sky is falling alarmism.