Map of Utah Coun­ties. Source: geol​ogy​.com

Demo­c­ra­tic and Repub­li­can state con­ven­tions were held in Utah Sat­ur­day, April 21. Each party chose can­di­dates for statewide and multi-​​county offices.

On the Demo­c­ra­tic side, things were pretty calm. The Democ­rats don’t hold much power in Utah pol­i­tics, and there were no major con­tro­ver­sies. I’ve been to past state Demo­c­ra­tic con­ven­tions, and the over­all air is like a high school pep rally for a los­ing team that every­one is com­pelled to attend. The Democ­rats only have one Con­gres­sional seat — more on that later — and have not been a sig­nif­i­cant force in state pol­i­tics since 1966. Cur­rently, the State Sen­ate has 22 Repub­li­cans and 7 Democ­rats, while the State House has 56 Repub­li­cans and 17 Democ­rats. All the Democ­rats are from the Salt Lake and nearby Park City areas, with the excep­tion of one lone Demo­c­ra­tic State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive, Chris­tine Watkins, who lives in Price, in the coal-​​mining east-​​central part of the state.

There is much more activ­ity on the Repub­li­can side. Remem­ber that in 2010, U.S. Sen­a­tor Bob Ben­nett was unable to make it past the sec­ond round of bal­lot­ing which sent now-​​Senator Mike Lee (R-​​UT) and Tim Bridge­wa­ter into the pri­mary, which Sen­a­tor Lee won.

Could the Tea Party repeat this feat in 2012, with Sen­a­tor Orrin Hatch (R-​​UT), who has served for 36 years?
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