Tea Party

SALT LAKE CITY — The Tea Party movement solidified its presence as a force within the Republican Party two years ago when it helped orchestrate the defeat of three-term Sen. Bob Bennett at Utah GOP’s nominating convention. But it fell short this weekend of doing the same to Sen. Orrin Hatch.

The different outcomes raise at least one question: Has the Tea Party lost some momentum or was it simply outflanked this time by Hatch, who had superior resources and tacked to the right on certain issues?

A national leader of Tea Party efforts, FreedomWorks, spent more than $700,000 through a super PAC to defeat Hatch. Yet, Hatch was able to easily advance to a primary and only fell 32 votes short of earning the nomination outright.

WOODS CROSS — Any notion that the Republican Party has been in power so long in Davis County that the results of elections are almost scripted, was turned on its ear Friday night in the party’s nominating convention.

OGDEN — It quickly became clear that Sen. Orrin Hatch was the “elephant in the room” for a group of Ogden neighbors.

At a Republican caucus Thursday night, 34 residents of the 12th precinct came together in a Ben Lomond High School classroom to decide who among them would go to the state and county conventions to represent their views.

LOS ANGELES -- Conservative media publisher and activist Andrew Breitbart, who was behind investigations that led to the resignations of former Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York and former U.S. Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod, has died in Los Angeles. He was 43.

WASHINGTON — A Utah state senator picked up an extra prize while he’s in Washington this week, and it’s a sign that some tea partiers haven’t given up on defeating six-term Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch next year.

FreedomWorks, which helps mobilize local tea party groups, named State Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful,  its “Legislative Entrepreneur of the Year” for his work on pensions and Medicaid.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's Democratic leaders hope to attract moderate LDS voters frustrated by conservative Tea Party politics with a message of inclusion and understanding.

SALT LAKE CITY — U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz hasn’t decided whether he’ll seek the Senate seat of fellow Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, but his movements in the upcoming week indicate he’s seriously considering it.