Free Republic

With 43% of precincts reporting, veteran U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch is the projected winner over challenger Dan Liljenquist in a primary election held in tandem with the final presidential primary in the nation.The 2-1 margin of victory was a surprise to some observers considering that Hatch's fellow former senator Bob Bennett was defeated at the convention even before the state primary vote in 2010.

About five weeks ago or so, Governor Palin endorsed Senator Orrin Hatch in his primary contest with Dan Liljenquist. I join other conservatives like Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, and Tea Party leaders like Sal Russo in encouraging Utah voters to return Orrin Hatch to the U.S. Senate. Since Mark Levin has always got a way with words, read what he recently told Senator Hatch: “I feel that you would be… a terrific elder statesman to a lot of these other young guys who I’m going to be pushing in these other states.” I’m with Mark. That’s spot on. We need...

Dan Liljenquist’s campaign has stated that he would never label himself a “Tea Party” candidate, and now we see why. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YgIUmxoEO7Y Update by Doug: I’m stunned. For a couple of reasons. First, all these alleged Tea Party proponents are supporting a guy who’s already signaled his willingness to compromise with liberals on what’s supposed to be one of the Tea Party’s core principles: Tax increases. Isn’t TEA an acronym for “taxed enough already”. Not that Liljenquist would know since, as Stacy noted above, he doesn’t consider himself a Tea Party candidate anyway. I can certainly see why.

Sen. Orrin Hatch fell 31 votes shy of winning the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, forcing him into a primary election for the first time since his first election in 1976.

The Tea Party movement is alive in Utah. With representatives from FreedomWorks in the audience, delegates at the Utah Republican Convention managed to force Sen. Orrin Hatch into a June 26 primary. He got 59.2 percent of their votes against Dan Liljenquist, a 38-year-old state senator. Hatch needed 60 percent to avoid the primary. He couldn’t do it. In two rounds of voting, he went from 2,243 votes to 2,313 votes. If he’d gotten 32 more votes, he would have wrapped this up… FreedomWorks and other Tea Party groups now have two Causes to distract them from their failure to...

Folks, just heard, Hatch in a run off ! Liljenquist and Tea Partiers did it !!!

The truth behind the Liljenquist rhetoric. Utah needs a Senator that actually votes...