UT-Sen: Democrats Have a Candidate

[ccharles000]

Well, this is interesting. It looks like Democrats will have an at-least-somewhat-prominent candidate for Senate in 2010:


Popular deli chain owner Sam Granato will run for Sen. Bob Bennett's seat in 2010.
Granato, who owns several Granato's delis throughout the Salt Lake Valley, also is chairman of the Utah Liquor Control Commission. He confirmed to me Thursday that he is in the race for sure as a Democrat, and he has secured early support from several Democratic insiders and officials. He will make the formal announcement June 1. ...

Meanwhile, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told me Thursday he has made the decision personally to challenge Bennett for the Republican nomination, but he has given his wife one more week to talk him out of it.

Sure, Utah's Utah. Ruby red. I get it. But if Shurtleff v. Bennett does turn nasty and expensive, a prominent figure like Granato could take advantage. We'll see if lightning strikes.

http://www.swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4895

[rwheeler31]

1. Good news ty

[ccharles000]

2. kick

[Drunken Irishman]

3. He'll lose, but the Granato family are very well respected in Salt Lake.

His family's Italian roots go way back here.

[ccharles000]

5. I believe Utah will go blue one day.

:hi:

[Drunken Irishman]

7. One day...

But it'll be decades, I think. Utah is like two steps behind the rest of the West and it's taken how long for them to becoming Democratic-leaning?

[ccharles000]

8. ...

John McCain beat Obama 62% to 34% compare that to Bush beating Kerry by 71% to 26%. Obama did 8% better than Kerry. I think in the long run Utah will go blue as it is one of the fastest growing states with a growing number of hispanics.

The percent that Obama improved on Kerry in each county-

Box Elder County-5%

Beaver County-3%

Cache County-9%

Carbon County-4%

Daggett County-8%

Davis County-8%

Duchesne County-3%

Emery County-4%

Garfield County-7%

Grand County-6%

Iron County-5%

Juab County-2%

Kane County -8%

Millard County-3%

Morgan County-5%

Piute County-2%

Rich County-4%

Salt Lake County-11%

San Juan County-8%

Sanpete County-4%

Sevier County-5%

Summit County-11%

Tooele County-8%

Uintah County-1%

Utah County-6%

Wasatch County-9%

Washington County-4%

Wayne County-5%

Weber County-8%

If Utah keeps on this track we should see a blue Utah one day(lets hope).

[Drunken Irishman]

9. Bush is still very popular here.

I don't really understand why.

The problem with Utah is that the Mormons are extremely anti-gay and anti-choice. Those two issues really hurt the Democratic Party here and when they became national issues (in the 70s), Utah went from being heavily Democratic (Dem governor, Dem state legislature) to being very Republican (haven't had a Dem governor since the 1980s).

Obama did better here than any recent Democrat (I think you'd have to go all the way back to Humphrey to find a Dem who hit the high 30s), but I don't know if that was just a blip or a true trend. I mean, four years ago we gave Bush his highest margin of victory, so we're not out of the woods yet.

[jillan]

4. Good luck. Hope Shurtleff runs a good campaign.

We had someone run against Kyl in '06 in Az.

I was so excited, but he didn't do enough and Kyl won easily.
That of course was before the R's started sinking.

[Drunken Irishman]

6. Shurtleff is pretty moderate.

He opposed Utah's gay marriage ban a few years ago. I'd tolerate him more than Bennett.

Though he was big on the Tea Party bullshit, so who knows.

[Hamlette]

11. Shurtleff will run like Romney did, hard right

the crazy right wing faction of the GOP wants to oust Bennett because they think he is too liberal/modreate so Shurtleff will go way to his right. Bennett has been supportive of the bank bailouts and deregulation of the banks. Deregulated banks are a huge business in Utah. Several big companies that could not have owned a bank before Gramm's bill settled in Utah. None of them have gone belly up but they employ a bunch of ppl here so Bennett has supported them. Shurtleff will have too also unless he wants to put tens of thousands out of work here.

Shurtleff's health is not so good either. Bad motorcycle accident a couple of years back. Last I heard, he was still using crutches, at least around the office (next door to mine) but maybe not in public. He's had a zillion operations, there was time they didn't think they could save the leg.


I know know about Granato but I've heard his name, as have all Utahans. Maybe Shurtleff and Bennett will bloody themselves enough to give him a chance. Jan Graham was the last dem to win statewide office and the last non mormon if memory serves. But she was following one of the craziest AGs we'd ever had.

[Drunken Irishman]

12. It wouldn't surprise me if he ran to the right.

Republicans seem to do that so easily.

Bennett has always been the least popular senator between him and Hatch, so it's not inconceivable the Shurtleff/Bennett battle opens the door for Granato. With that said, it's still extremely unlikely.

If this were the 80s, I think we'd have a better chance, but since 1989, the state has really taken a hard right tilt locally.

[Umbral]

10. I'm not surprised Shurtleff has higher ambitions, but I thought he would wait for Hatch's seat ,

and run against that crypto-republican Matheson. Either one would be as bad as the other.

[Drunken Irishman]

13. Well he probably sees a Cannon/Chaffetz in the primary.

Where he can beat Bennett among the conservative voters and then back his way into the senate that way.