Bennett's Race to Lose

So the race for US Senate is miles away, but with the recent announcement(?) of Cherilyn Bacon, the race on the GOP side is getting crowded.

I am happy to see a woman get into the race. I don't know Cherylin that well, but from what I can tell she will be a frank and straightforward debater.

I'm not really sure if Cherilyn announced formerly or not - it wasn't over Twitter so she's probably okay, but it does seem similar to Shurtleff's anti-climatic announcement a week or so ago. I guess you need a real podium nowadays for an announcement to be official. The Twitter/leaked-to-bloggers announcements are just preliminary now I guess.

It's very early, but I have to say that I think Bennett is clearly in the lead, despite the various announcements. He's conciously making the case for his conservative credentials, which is to be expected given the current climate in Utah.

Holly at Holly on the Hill had a great summary of his recent presentation to a business group in Provo. It appears he's saying and doing the right things. He's running ads early, sending post cards early, and has the all important nod from Papa Romney.

Shurtleff has sort of stumbled out of the gate. Literally with his Twitter mishap and now this week he's fending off accusations he helped the recently indicted "Free Capitalist" Rick Koerber, by pressuring the Utah Securities Division to call off or tone down their investigation. At Mark's announcement there was dueling press conference with the annoucenment of the Patrick Henry Caucus the same day that stole a bit of his thunder, and perhaps draws into question the AG's own credibility among conservatives.

And we haven't heard much from Tim Bridgewater since his Twitter announcement that he was running. It's early, but it seems like Tim has been brushed aside and has yet to gain much if any momentum from his would-be run at the GOP Chairmanship race.

A very interesting pool of candidates. But, they've all got their work cut out for them if they want to give Bennett a serious challenge.

Evil Twin

Last week, Joe Pyrah from the Provo Daily Herald pointed out that my blog looked very familiar.

A quick click to his blog the Sausage Grinder and you'll see that our two blogs do look eerily similar.

Truth be told, I'm sure Joe's blog was up and running much longer than mine...Independent of Joe's blog, I just happened to have used the same blogger.com template - complete with Twitter feeds and everything. I thought I was being so cool when I discovered I could add those. Who knew I was behind the times? (Joe did). Heck, we both even have pictures of the state capitol building at the top of our home pages!

The only thing I'm missing is a portrait shot from glamour studios on my right side bar - how much do those run nowadays Joe?

Voting from Home?

As Jay Leno likes to say "How lazy are we getting in this country!?"

The state of Hawaii just tried a totally paperless election. Voters could cast their ballots either online or over the phone. The results? Voting dropped 83% compared to the previous (same cycle) election.

As anyone who has ever worked on a campaign will tell you - turnout is always critical. That's why you always hear about campaigns that monitor things like traffic and the weather. Is it raining? That could help the challenger. Is it sunny? Bonus for the incumbent. Accident on the highway? Uh oh, not enough time to make it to the polls...

Voters can be rather fickle.

I'm always cautious about likely voter polls, especially if the primary screening criteria is based on the question of "how likely are you to vote?" Because, everyone will tell you they are voting - "don't question my devotion to my civic duty," but really much of what happens on election day depends on that person's schedule for the day. Too busy with the kids? Running late from work? Heck, if the line's long (anyone remember the Presidential Primary last year?), folks will just turn around and walk out.

I like the Hawaii attempt. I hope that the low turnout was a function of newness and lack of awareness and education of the new system. Here at home we can vote early as two weeks before the actual election day. So really, there's no excuse for any Utahn not to make it to polls.

There's much more that could be said about individual responsibility, patriotism, democracy, representation, ect... But let's face it, America has a real apathy problem.

This land is your land...this land is my land...

Excellent article from the Desnews on the Rock Canyon situation in Provo. The fellow who owns a large part of the Canyon wants to mine a portion of it. You can read the article here.

The paper offers four or five perspectives from the various concerned parties. I prefer this style of reporting. It's more presentation of facts as those participating in the situation see them without including biased opinion from the reporter.

If I want to read biased opinion I can always listen to talk radio - or read blogs. ;)