UPDATE 7: So the final tally for the GOP senate nomination is, per Dave Catanese:
Tim Bridgewater: 57.2%
Mike Lee: 42.7%
Since Bridgewater failed to clear 60%, that means there wil be a primary on June 22nd, same as with UT-02 for the Dems.
UPDATE 6: WOW. Jim Matheson 55%, Claudia Wright 45%. There will be a primary.
UPDATE 5: It’s been very hard to get news out of the UT Dem convention, but I suggest following the #utdem hashtag on Twitter. It looks like results may be announced soon.
UPDATE 4: It’s official – Bob Bennett won’t make it to the third round of voting:
Tim Bridgewater: 37.42%
Mike Lee: 35.99%
Bob Bennett: 26.59%
Bennett picked up almost no votes after the first round. Between Lee and Bridgewater, I have no idea whom to root for, though.
UPDATE 3: Reid Wilson says Bennett will not advance to the third round. Mike Allen says he may run a write-in campaign.
UPDATE 2: So the top three candidates advance to the second round, meaning Bennett barely survives – for another hour or so. According to the timestamp on this post, second-round results are expected around 5:30pm Eastern.
Also, over at the Dem convention, it appears that no voting has taken place yet, but on Twitter, it sounds like there may be a surprising level of enthusiasm for Jim Matheson’s challenger, Claudia Wright. She needs 40% to force a primary.
UPDATE: The first round of results are in:
Lee 982 – 28.75%
Bridgewater 917 – 26.84%
Bennett 885 – 25.91%
Eagar 541 – 15.84%
Cook 49 – 1.43%
Fabiano 22 – .64%
Freidbaum 16 – .47%
Chiu 4 – .12%
Today the Utah GOP will be having their statewide convention for the U.S. Senate nomination. The Salt Lake Tribue has this explanation of how it will unfold. Note that all times are Mountain Crazy Time:
Schedule reminder: Convention kicks off at 10 a.m., and the roughly 7-minute Senate speeches start at 10:45 a.m. They will speak in this order – Bridgewater, Bennett, Friedbaum, Fabiano, Cook, Chiu, Lee and Eagar. After that the first round, balloting will commence; expect to start voting around 11:50 a.m. That brings us to the final three candidates.
The second round of balloting will come around 1:40 p.m. after the speeches for governor (who doesn’t want to hear what SuperDell has to say), and the three congressional districts (1st – Bishop vs. Ridgeway; 2nd – Philpot vs.Walter vs. Eliason; 3rd Chaffetz vs. nobody)
If a third round of balloting is necessary (count on it), that would take place after the discussion of platform changes and resolutions, estimated at 3 p.m., but hey, you know how these things get pushed back.
So the first round of voting should start just before 2pm Eastern.
Results: Trib | UT GOP | Twitter
Live video:
Any predictions, before voting starts?
P.S. Johnny Longtorso reminds us in comments that the UT Dems are also holding their convention today. The one thing to watch is whether Rep. Jim Matheson (UT-02) will get a primary challenge. Voting starts around 3:45pm Eastern.
Bennett manages to make it to a primary, but will finish second to one of the other guys.
You also might want to watch the Democratic convention, which takes place later this afternoon, to see if Jim Matheson will end up with a primary challenge or not.
The audio sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher.
Prediction- Bennett goes down in round of three.
1. Mike Lee – 28.75% (Total Votes 982)
2. Tim Bridgewater – 26.84% (Total Votes 917)
3. Sen. Bob Bennett – 25.91% (Total Votes 885)
4. Cherilyn Eager – 15.84% (Total Votes 541)
5. Merrill Cook – 1.43% (Total Votes 49)
6. Leonard Fabiano – 0.64% (Total Votes 22)
7. Jeremy Friedbaum – 0.47% (Total Votes 16)
Results from 1st Round Senate: Lee 28,75% Bridgewater 26.84% Bob Bennett 25.81 Eagar 15.84
1. Mike Lee – 28.75% (Total Votes 982)
2. Tim Bridgewater – 26.84% (Total Votes 917)
3. Sen. Bob Bennett – 25.91% (Total Votes 885)
All other candidates combined for around 19.5%
Bennett will probably be knocked out on the next ballot. If all, or almost all, of Bennett’s supporters go for Bridgewater, he would only have to get half of the other remaining votes to clinch 60%. My prediction is Bennett gets knocked out next round and Bridgewater passes the 60% so there is no primary and Erick Erickson gets to cry himself to sleep tonight. Probably won’t happen, I think the most likely scenario is a Bridgewater-Lee primary matchup.
that the mayor of SLC wishes he had run for the Senate now instead of Governor.
and does round 2 eliminate narrow the field to 2?
still not 100% sure why Bennett is likely to lose his seat. He has a very conservative voting record. Is he just not 110% teabagger or what?
http://twitter.com/mikeallen
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_…
Somebody’s wrong
… that being a conservative republican is not enough these days, you have to batshit crazy. Bennett was no moderate but once in a great while he would cross the aisle on an issue, I guess that is a career death sentance these days.
At least he doesn’t base his candidacy off of God. Lee might as well be running with the “Mormon Party”.
must be scared out of his mind. He’s worked with the Democrats more than Bennett ever did. In fact he was good friends with Ted Kennedy! That alone makes enemy number one among the teabaggers and the Redstate crowd.
….this is the man who should’ve tried switching parties earlier. Course not like any Democrat could win statewide in Utah anyway. Bob Bennett actually saw the high watermark for a Democratic Senate candidate when Wayne Owens (last Democrat to hold a US House seat prior to Matheson) scored an “amazing” 40% of the vote against him.
But hey, not like he had much of a chance running as a Republican either.
Than one against Matheson. Urgh. Still, if he is winning by ten with these people he’ll be fine but it can’t help him in November.
gets the stamp of approval from Jim “Waterloo” DeMint:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
But this is still an ignominious end for a three term senator’s political career. At least he actually tried to legislate from time to time, even if that meant working with a Democrat. I’m sure a Sen. Bridgewater or Sen. Lee will spend most of their time in the Senate trying to imitate Jim DeMint style histrionics. From some of the comments here, it seems as if Bridgewater might be a little less insane than Lee. Why is that?
Bennett’s probably got zero chance of winning by waging a write-in campaign.
Will he go quietly or pull a Bunning and go out with a bang? I’d love to see him co-sponsor some bipartisan legislation and go on Meet the Press and describe how out of touch the Republicans are, because the Beltway just eats that crap up. Maybe he’ll even refuse to endorse the eventual nominee.
If he were to stage a write-in campaign, does he have the money to do it?
Are we sure that Bennett voted for NCLB? I’m pretty sure he voted against it, have to check on Medicare Part D.
http://www.senate.gov/legislat…
This was on the Conference Report.
I’ll go out on a limb and predict that, for this year at least, Bennett is finished. The very reason why he is prohibited by state law from running as an independent is that a similar situation occurred there in 1958, resulting in Utah’s only Democratic senator of the postwar era. Bennett surely remembers that, as his father was the state’s other senator at the time. He’s smart enough to know he can’t win as a write-in, and surely he’s aware of the possibility – however slight – that his running would lead to the Democrats picking up that seat where they otherwise would never have a chance. I predict he’ll lick his wounds, talk about a write-in campaign as part of the cycle of coping with his loss, and then sit out the fall election. Which is too bad for us.
i can imagine it being leaps and bounds beyond either the democrats or GOP in this race – and he’s done nothing wrong and he is well-liked and well-known by Utahans. write-ins are very, very difficult, but this situation might be the perfect one.