UTAH'S REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATE PRIMARY TODAY MORE CONSEQUENTIAL THAN FINAL PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY............

Utah is the last of the fifty states to hold a 2012 Presidential Primary today, concluding the primaries and caucuses season.  It is a foregone conclusion that Governor Mitt Romney will win the Republican Primary, in what is the most Republican, and overwhelmingly Mormon State in the country.  The more intriguing race is the the first Primary challenge in thirty six years to six term incumbent Republican U. S. Senator Orrin Hatch, who is targeted by the Tea Party.  Former State Senator Daniel Liljenquist, who is 37 years old, is mounting a challenge to Senator Hatch, age 78, which has set a record for campaign spending in Utah political history.  Liljenquist fueled by contributions from Tea Party supporters has spent nearly $1 million on television advertising, while Hatch has amassed and spent a campaign war chest of over $9.8 million.  In 2010, Utah's former U.S. Senator Robert Bennett was upset for re-election at the State Convention, by Tea Party supported Mike Lee, who went on to win the U.S. Senate seat.  Liljenquist has tried to to run just such a challenge to Hatch, but although he forced the six term incumbent into a primary election at the GOP State Convention this year, could not fund himself sufficiently to overtake Hatch in the primary election.  The latest poll of the Deseret News / KSL, shows registered voters in Utah expressing 60% support for Hatch; 32% support for Liljenquist.  Learning lessons from the Bennett defeat and the defeat of fellow six term, Indiana U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, in his primary last month, Senator Hatch has re-enforced his conservative credentials underscoring his strong support for balancing the Federal Budget, and working to repeal the Affordable Care Act .  Hatch also has the endorsement of Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin.  Vowing that this will be his last term in the U.S. Senate, an almost two to one Hatch primary victory, will validate that a well organized, two year campaign, that is ten to one financed over his opponent, while tacking further to the right politically, can overcome Tea Party opposition and win.  It will also break the two year tide of Tea Party candidate victories in U.S. Senate primaries, right where it started two years ago : in Utah............Fr.  Troy