Saturday May 8, 2010
Over the past 6 weeks I've had the opportunity to attend meetings with candidates, read their literature, attend debates and telephone town hall meetings. I have made my thoughts and feelings known through questions and concerns with them on the issues facing our Country today. It has been a lot of fun getting to hear where each of them stand on the issues facing us and what each want to do to correct the problems in Washington D.C. It's also been very uplifting getting to talk to so many people who share my passion and concerns about what needs to be changed. Most of the candidates really impressed me and it took me a while to make up my mind. I narrowed myself down to 2 in the senate race where there were 7 running against Bob Bennett. Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater. I had some reservations about Bridgewater before the convention, but I knew he would still be better than Bob Bennett. Once I arrived at the convention saturday morning Brad and I spent almost and hour at his booth listening to questions posed to him and asking one myself. He clarified a lot for me and I decided he would be the best choice. I am very impressed with Mike Lee as well and he is a strong 2nd in my opinion. I would like to see him run against Orinn Hatch in 2 years. I have contacted Tim Bridgewater and offered my time as a volunteer for his comapign during the next 6 weeks before the June 22 primary. I hope to be able to convince friends and family to vote for him based on where he stands on the issues.
Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee
Tim Bridgewater and his wife Laura
On saturday, out of 3500 delegates state wide, the final credential report was 3452 delegates in attendance. It was awesome to see that many people gathered together, informed and anxious to help in the process of our state republican business.
Registration for credentials went from 7-10:30 AM and we were called to order at 10 AM.
Dave Hansen, Utah republican party chairman welcomed all the delegates.
(Dave Hansen)
Rev. Jay Brummett gave the opening prayer, during which he asked for a special blessing for President Obama who seems in great need of extra guidance lately. :-)
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1695 from Box Elder County presented the colors followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.
(Mark Shurtleff)
Drew Reese of the 23rd Army Band sang the National Anthem and then we had County roll call by the republican party secretery.
Next we had to listen to all the reports and moved into the senatorial speeches. Each candidate was given 7 minutes before the first round of voting began. Here is a video link to view all the candidate's speeches if you're interested in watching any of them. Here is the order of speaking...
Tim Bridgewater
Bob Bennett
Jeremy Friedbaum
Leonard Fabiano
Merrill Cook
David Y. Chiu
Mike Lee
Cherilyn Eager
After the first round of voting here are the numbers of the top 3 who moved on to the second round.
Bridgewater- 917
Bennett- 885
Lee- 982
After the second round of voting...
Bridgewater- 1274
Bennett- 905
Lee- 1225
After the third round of voting...
Bridgewater- 1854 = 57.28%
Lee- 1383 = 42.72%
They will face a primary because no one got more than 60% of the vote. Coincidently...160 or so people left after Bennett was elliminated. Had they satyed and chosen one of the finaly 2 candidates, we might have had enough votes for Tim Bridgewater to get through without a primary! It's a bummer because now they spend more money fighting against each other instead of against the democrat opponent. Sad!
Other races that were voted on were for Utah Governor which Herbert one with 70.8% of the vote. There were 4 candidates in that race.
U.S. Congress district 1, Rob Bishop won with one challenger by 93% of the vote.
U.S. Congress district 2, (my district) 3 candidates ran and after two rounds of voting Morgan Philpot won with 60.1% of the vote. He won that round by 1 vote!!! CLOSE!
I believe he has the best chance of winning this seat for the republicans. Jim Matheson currently holds this seat and will face a primary in June so we don't know if Morgan Philpot will run against him or his opponent.
I believe he has the best chance of winning this seat for the republicans. Jim Matheson currently holds this seat and will face a primary in June so we don't know if Morgan Philpot will run against him or his opponent.
U.S. Congress District 3 goes to uncontested Jason Chaffettz.
It was such a fun day! I had a blast! I voted for Bridgewater all three times, I voted for Gov. Gary R. Herbert, I voted both times for Morgan Philpot. I love this Country, I love that I was able to get more involved this year and pick for myself who I want to be leading me and the people around me who elected me as a delegate. I told them what I stood for and what kind of a candidate I would support and they trusted me with that vote. I can't wait to see what kind of things Utah can accomplish this year and we started out with a bang! People all around the United States and farther are definitely paying attention to what just happened to Bob Bennett.
USA Today
The Politico
NPR
The Boston Globe
Fox News
MSNBC
The Canadian Press
BBC News
I thin a strong message was sent and whether or not the press understands why it happened, it still happened. It wasn't because of a tea party, it wasn't because of Club for Growth. People in Utah no longer felt Bob Bennett had their best interests in mind. We are done with sending people back just because of seniority and positions they hold on committee's. Represent who votes for you NO MATTER WHAT! To many people have been in Washington D.C. for TOO long. We need younger, newer faces who understand what needs to be done and who aren't affraid of who they might offend by sticking to their guns on an issue. I could type all day long about stuff like this, but this entry is getting way to long. If you've actually read the whole thing, I commend you! Just know...I love what I've been doing, I'm excited for the rest of the year, I want my children to grow up in the most ideal circumstances and that isn't looking good at the moment. I'm trying my hardest to play some sort of role in fixing it so when they ask me where I stood on the issues facing us now I can say that I fought the best way I knew how, I got involved.
USA Today
The Politico
NPR
The Boston Globe
Fox News
MSNBC
The Canadian Press
BBC News
I thin a strong message was sent and whether or not the press understands why it happened, it still happened. It wasn't because of a tea party, it wasn't because of Club for Growth. People in Utah no longer felt Bob Bennett had their best interests in mind. We are done with sending people back just because of seniority and positions they hold on committee's. Represent who votes for you NO MATTER WHAT! To many people have been in Washington D.C. for TOO long. We need younger, newer faces who understand what needs to be done and who aren't affraid of who they might offend by sticking to their guns on an issue. I could type all day long about stuff like this, but this entry is getting way to long. If you've actually read the whole thing, I commend you! Just know...I love what I've been doing, I'm excited for the rest of the year, I want my children to grow up in the most ideal circumstances and that isn't looking good at the moment. I'm trying my hardest to play some sort of role in fixing it so when they ask me where I stood on the issues facing us now I can say that I fought the best way I knew how, I got involved.
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