Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff (R) launched his 2010 primary challenge to three-term Sen. Bob Bennett (R) on Wednesday at a press conference at the Utah Capitol building.
He also sent the announcement to his supporters via Twitter.
That sure is amusing, seeing as Shurtleff screwed up his announcement a week ago by doofily blasting it around on... Twitter. Anyhow, Shurtleff is going full steam ahead here, despite speculation that he might switch over to the gubernatorial race (for which there will now be a special election in 2010, in the wake of Gov. John Huntsman accepting the ambassadorship to China).
According to Roll Call, Shurtleff claims to have an internal poll which shows a "dead heat" between him and Bennett. But the only public poll I'm aware of (a February R2K survey) showed Bennett ahead 46-20. As Crisitunity noted, though, Shurtleff may be planning on staging a coup at the state party convention, possibly rendering the primary irrelevant.
UPDATE: More on that Shurtleff internal here, and a partial memo here (PDF). It polled primary voters and convention delegates (not exactly sure how they managed to survey that second sample). Shurtleff actually did better among the former, trailing 40-37. Among delegates, Bennett led 38-31. (Hat-tip: reader SD.)
