Utah Sen. Bob Bennett becomes emotional while thanking supporters after being ousted at the state GOP convention Saturday.
Tea Party activists and fiscal conservatives have successfully knocked Utah Bob Bennett, a three-term sitting Republican Senator, out of contention for re-election at a state GOP convention over the weekend.
Despite having deep roots in Utah’s Mormon community and ties to GOP darling Mitt Romney, Bennett had become known as a R.I.N.O. (Republican In Name Only) due to his working with Democrats on hot-button issues like Amnesty for illegals and Healthcare reform.
Bennett also backed the 2008 bailout package that then-president George W. Bush said was necessary to avoid a meltdown of the financial system.
Instead of Bennett, Tea Party activists at this weekend’s Republican convention chose businessman Mike Lee, 38, and attorney Tim Bridgewater, 49, to run in a June 22 primary. Neither has held elective office.
Party conservatives hailed his defeat.
Brendan Steinhauser, FreedomWorks
“We think this really is a harbinger of things to come,” Brendan Steinhauser, political director of FreedomWorks, one of the Tea Party-affiliated groups that opposed Bennett, told USA TODAY. “It should send a shock wave and put people on notice.”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine called it proof that the Republican Party is now in the command of its far-right wing. “That the Tea Party would consider Bob Bennett, one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate, too liberal, just goes to show how extreme the Tea Party is,” Kaine said in a statement.
Although Utah law prohibits Bennett from running as an independent, the defrocked Republican says he may run a write-in candidacy. “I do think I still have a lot of juice left in me,” Bennett told reporters.
“The political atmosphere obviously has been toxic, and it’s very clear that some of the votes that I have cast have added to the toxic environment.”
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Let's hope the bastard doesn't screw up the election by choosing the write-in scheme. He should do what most ex-pols do…work in some law firm selling his connections, or become a high paid lobbyist.