Your side's ship AMERICA'S SHIP
And that's how you're viewed in POLITE circles.
Posted on 06/23/2004 7:12:27 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Cannon glides to primary victory By Tad Walch Deseret Morning News
PROVO — The irony of where their respective campaigns met on primary election night wasn't lost on either candidate in the 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday night.
Incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon's supporters watched results pour in at the Hampton Inn in Provo while Matt Throckmorton's backers did the same from a Hampton Inn in Orem.
A few miles on I-15 were all that separated the gatherings, and only a handful of key issues separated the candidates in the Republican primary. Otherwise, they were nearly identical ideological twins. Their differences on immigration reform and the federal education program known as "No Child Left Behind," while significant, weren't enough to persuade voters to unseat Cannon.
Throckmorton pushed Cannon into a primary with a solid showing at the Republican convention, but it was clear at press time, with 81 percent of precincts reporting, that Cannon had earned the party's nomination Tuesday night as he held a commanding lead, with 59 percent of the vote to Throckmorton's 41.
Cannon will face Democrat Beau Babka in November's general election.
Cannon, who is seeking his fifth term, hadn't been pushed into a primary in six years, but he wasn't even in Utah for the vote. He made the decision Monday to remain in Washington rather than get in some last-minute campaigning and huddle with supporters.
"He's been driving us nuts all day with phone calls," said Joe Hunter, Cannon's chief of staff.
Cannon decided he couldn't miss Tuesday's hearings on defense appropriations for 2005, which include funds for Hill Air Force Base, or a Wednesday hearing on a bill to give Utah a fourth congressman.
Cannon also felt it was necessary to attend today's full Judiciary Committee meeting on a bill he co-sponsored that would force the government to consider the impact of each new law on every citizen's personal privacy.
"We haven't had primaries like this in the past," he said. "In 1998, we had a different schedule, with the primary in the fall. Now we have a system in Congress where the Senate is not on our side. It's highly partisan, and I couldn't leave. I would much rather have been in Utah." No irregularities were reported at the polls in the wake of reports that national border restrictions groups would challenge some voters in the belief that Cannon had encouraged illegal immigrants to register to vote. Project USA officials backtracked after published reports and didn't file a bulk challenge of hundreds of voters, and there was no effort to challenge voters at the polls. Two federal elections officials monitored polling places, one in western Salt Lake County and the other in Utah County, but reported no difficulties to Utah County elections coordinator Kris Swensen or Salt Lake County clerk Sherrie Swensen. "We didn't have any problems," Salt Lake's Swensen said. "Everything went well. That was a relief." Cannon blitzed voters over the weekend with radio ads and a recorded phone message from former U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen. The flurry of messages built on more than a month's worth of ads. Throckmorton began heavy radio ads only two weeks ago because of a shortage of campaign funds. He initially planned to martial $150,000 but said he wound up spending just $65,000 to $70,000. Cannon spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000. As expected, Cannon swept the 3rd District's five rural counties — Beaver, Juab, Millard, Sanpete and Sevier — by tremendous margins, earning 69 percent of the vote there. But the candidates ran virtually neck-and-neck in Utah County most of the night, and Throckmorton predicted the race would come down to western Salt Lake County. In the end, Cannon dominated Salt Lake County, winning 59 percent of the vote there. Babka monitored the primary and said he looked forward to facing Cannon. "We've been gearing up to face Chris, so I'm excited to get out and get campaigning," he said. He doesn't believe immigration reform will return as the main issue of his campaign with Cannon. "The biggest thing is that we're going to focus in on jobs, education and security, which also ties into immigration," Babka said. "I see it as still an issue, but I don't think it will be the issue Matt and Chris were involved in." Throckmorton thought his platform of stronger borders and repealing No Child Left Behind gained traction with voters but recognized his similarities with the incumbent. "On the meat and potatoes issues of Republican values, like abortion and gay marriage and gun rights, we were the same." Still, he was happy to push Cannon so hard. "I think we made him extremely nervous," Throckmorton said.
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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com
Sickening. This guy should have been thrown out on his ass.
Yeah, there's a shocker.
I do not concur - Cannon is a good man who honorably served as one of Clinton's impeachment managers & doesn't deserve all the crap that's been dished out by shortsighted single-issue tunnel vision types.
He's a steming piece of crap RINO who's trying to give our country away to illegal aliens and no child left behind psycho's.
He should be working at Burger King and not in the Capital.
He's a scumbag of the highest order.
The rural counties where the constituents underpay illegal aliens to harvest crops.
"shortsighted single-issue tunnel vision types."
Yeah, broaden your vistas! So, he received an award from MALDEF. So, he sat there while his aide dreamed up wacky ways illegal aliens could donate to his campaign. So, he has enough pull to get the WSJ and other rags to mount smear campaigns.
Don't be so closed-minded! Cannon's A-OK!
Normally, I would agree with you. But immigration is such an important issue, that it is enough dismiss a candidate based solely on it. If we cannot get control of our borders, we will never be secure. It is people like Cannon who stand in the way of security, and so they must be tossed.
I think like most of what the anti-immigration crowd mumbles, this too was a non event.
From Americans for Tax Reform:
"The challenger, Matt Throckmorton, took a hard-line anti-immigration stance in the campaign. Cannon,however, stuck to the policies of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, who embraced legal immigration – not only on economic grounds, but moral ones as well.
“America is a nation of immigrants,” continued Norquist. “Her economy is fueled by the imagination, creativity and hard work of immigrants from all corners of the globe who come to America for opportunities they cannot find at home. Representative Cannon boldly stood by America’s immigrant population instead of giving in to the easy-way-out – the hysterical and unkind attacks that often elect politicians but hurt our nation in the long-run.”"
http://www.atr.org/pdf2004/pr-cannon-06-22-04.pdf
you are so right
Are you calling forcing an extremely well funded incumbent into a primary runoff and getting 41% of that vote a non event?
Between this and what happened in PA the powers that be in the GOP had better wake up to the voters desire for controlled legal immigration or they WILL start to lose their jobs.
Your side threw everything you had at him and you lost. You lost in California to Aaaaarnold. You lost in Pa to Spector and now you lost in Utah to Cannon. There comes a point when even the Captain realizes the ship is going down.
Got news for you, it's not our ship that's going down.
It's yours captain.
Ours is still in the shipyard being built. Something the GOP powers would be wise to keep in mind.
P.S. Just what do you think is going to happen to the GOP if even half of that 41% start staying home on election day?
Something your side should begin to consider, especially since it's going to start happening.
Considering that PA is a battleground state and spector barely snuck by I would think it's something that should way heavy on the hearts of Rove, Cannon and the rest of their ilk.
Your side's ship AMERICA'S SHIP
And that's how you're viewed in POLITE circles.
Funny but dead wrong.
You'll see very soon how we're viewed.
The crackdown on illegals is coming, you'll just have to watch the show from the sidelines slick.
And I find it curious that you think your side is so large, especially when poll after poll shows that 70% of real American want illegals out.
In the event that you have trouble with math that puts YOU in the minority by a very large margin.
Like I said, the crackdown is coming and there's nothing you and the rest of the illegal lovers can do to stop it.
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