Shurtleff Officially Runs

Reports Reid Wilson and Aaron Blake in The Hill. They point out Bennett isn't quite as vulnerable as Chris Cannon:

Even a Shurtleff campaign poll leaked to The Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday showed Bennett with a 71 percent favorable rating among delegates to the nominating convention. Among those delegates, Bennett holds a 38-31 lead.

I'm hoping that the challenge alone will do some good, forcing Bennett to reevaluate his career.

Oh Please Oh Please Oh Please

Robert Gehrke of the Salt Lake Tribune reports:

In his third term in the Senate, Bob Bennett finds himself in unfamiliar and unfriendly waters, roiled by public frustration with Washington and with at least two sharks circling, believing the Republican senator might be vulnerable.

YES! Sen. Bennett needs to realize he hasn't represented his constituents very well. He needs to recognize that the health care legislation he's sponsoring runs counter to conservative values. He champions earmarks and rejects accountability. Having sold out to the financial industry, he supported TARP before he opposed it.

Time for him to go.

Dodd Under Fire

A combination of scandals have rocked Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT). He's looking less and less likely to survive his reelection campaign next year.

But it's important to note that prominent Republicans on the Senate Banking committee are likely to have many of the same problems. Since 2003, the ranking Republican, Sen. Shelby of Alabama, has received over $90000 in campaign contributions from Citigroup, and thousands more from Price Waterhouse, JPMorgan, and other financial institutions. He's also received $37,500 from Cerberus Capital Management, which is a private investment company (i.e. hedge fund).

The second ranking Republican, Sen. Bennett of Utah, has since 2003 received over $200,000 from financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, American Express, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and, most notoriously, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In fact, Sen. Bennett is the 7th largest recipient of Freddie Mac donations for 2008.

Dodd's problems have been largely of his own making. But many of those problems would have gone unnoticed without journalistic digging. Who knows what would happen if journalists started digging at Shelby, Bennett, and others? If Republicans really want to shed the corruption label, they need to clean house, starting with some of their most senior members.

(h/t Instapundit for the Dodd links)

Bennett Votes to Keep Earmarks

From a NYT blog...

Nine Republicans voted with Democrats against Mr. McCain’s amendment: Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Robert Bennett of Utah, Christopher Bond of Missouri, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Dude needs to go.

Sens. Bennett and Hatch Oppose Further Bailout

Matt Canham of the SL Trib reports Hatch and Bennett both oppose releasing the remaining $350B of TARP, even though they both supported the program last year. Says Bennett...

I strongly supported the economic rescue plan in October because we were facing a total collapse of the world's financial markets within days; it was a true emergency and we averted that collapse. Now, there is not the emergency we had before.

How does he know TARP prevented collapse? Last I checked, no one knows how the money was actually used.

Meanwhile Treasury Secretary Paulson says the remaining $350B is needed for "bank capital programs" (Reuters). Bennett stood by Paulson when TARP was originally passed, why isn't he standing by him now?

I smell politics.

Utah Senators Like Them Some Pork

From Porkbusters and the Examiner newspapers, an index of Senate votes on twelve earmark-related bills and amendments. Hatch scored a 42% favorable, Bennett 17%.

http://porkbusters.org/scorecard.php

The original spreadsheet (listing the individual votes) is here.

(Hat tip Instapundit.)