Hatch: Utah needs to keep Bennett in D.C.

[ccharles000]

Provo » Utah cannot afford to lose U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett's experience and influence in Washington, his Senate colleague warned Friday.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, speaking at the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Forum, said he likes all the people who are vying for the Senate in 2010 -- even Democratic challenger Sam Granato -- but said Bennett is the best one for the job.

"We have to wake up around here," said Hatch, the state's senior senator. " is considered a real conservative back in Washington. If he is re-elected -- and I believe he will be -- he will have 24 years experience, and he could become the ranking member or the chairman of the Banking Committee."

Hatch considers the Banking Committee among the Senate's most powerful.

Bennett took office in 1993 and wouldn't have 24 years in Washington until the end of the fourth term he's seeking.

Hatch's comments followed Bennett's recent last-place finish in a Utah County Republican Party straw poll. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff finished first, with 42 percent of the vote; another challenger, Cherilyn Eagar, received 32 percent.

Jason Powers, spokesman for Shurtleff's campaign, said returning Bennett to Washington only makes sense if people want the same results from government.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13270427

[Common Sense Party]

1. You can't trust Orrin's math skills. He said he'd only serve 12 years

in the Senate. That was a loooong time ago.