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Unbelievable News from Utah

by: The SideTrack

Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 6:27 PM EDT


Unbelievable news from Utah.  Not so rare in other states, but here in Utah, this is truly historic.  Just got wind of a press release from Morgan Bowen, Democratic candidate for Utah's 1st District currently held by Republican Rob Bishop taking a stand again the FISA bill, and retro-active immunity.

For those who aren't familiar with Utah's political landscape, it is the land of Blue Dog Jim Matheson - who of course supports retro-active immunity.  Matheson traditionally calls the shots in the state, often leveraging his position as the only Democrat in the state's federal delegation to squash real leadership against the Blue Dog agendas.  Morgan has already been more than responsive to bloggers and grassroots activists, allowing a level of access for both in his campaign, as well as the Utah for Obama staff and their voter registration efforts that is unprecedented in this state (and many of us have been fighting for such things for decades!).  And now he takes a very definite stance on the FISA bill, despite the backlash he can expect for doing so.  

This is leadership.  Finally!

Please show Morgan some love.

The SideTrack :: Unbelievable News from Utah
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Added
to my list of Future races.  (See my signature for the link.)

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

uhh... sure
That's not unbelievable at all.  When you have no chance of winning the election you can afford to take unpopular stances in your district.  

Matheson doesn't have that luxury.  He actually does have to worry about getting re-elected.  Do I like his stance on the issue? Hell no.  But we're talking about a democrat in Utah.  I'd like to actually keep him in office for the forseeable future.


There is a lot more to it
than that.

FISA capitulation and the issue of retro-active immunity for telco's appeals to a large number of Utah voters, who have traditionally supported Republicans for the "limited government" stance.  But Utahn's are waking up to the shift away from that position by the GOP.  That, mixed with Chris Cannon's loss to a newbie in CD-03 (and not because of the immigration issue, believe it or not) and a developing investigation of the Republican Speaker of the House (again!) in a tainted state treasurer race together have brought an air of "change" to even Utah.

Additionally, one of Bishop's previous challengers lost by only 5,000 votes.

Bowen has a chance, if he gets the support.  Also, a link to the Bowen's actual press release today can be found here.


[ Parent ]
5000?
No.

Bishop beat Steve Olsen by 54624 votes (30.61%)
Bishop beat Steve Thompson by 111192 votes (38.93%)
Bishop beat Dave Thomas by 43161 votes (24.06%)

But UT-01 did have a margin of 5000 votes, when Jim Hansen beat former Congressman Gunn McKay in 1986.

A lot of this reads like campaign hype.


[ Parent ]

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