Utahns Can Meet Both Senate Candidate Cherilyn Eagar And Sarah Palin At The Salt Lake Costco Book Signing On December 9th; Costco Membership Required

Utah U.S. Senate Republican candidate Cherilyn Eagar, who is now the leading Republican challenger for incumbent Bob Bennett's Senate seat, announces that she will be present at Sarah Palin's book signing to be held at the Salt Lake City Costco at 1800 South 300 West from 12 Noon until 3 P.M. on Wednesday December 9th, 2009. Costco employees will begin distributing tickets at 10 A.M.; only 1,000 tickets will be distributed, and it's first come, first serve. You will be required to be a Costco member and show a receipt proving that you bought 'Going Rogue' at a Costco warehouse in order to get a ticket (call 801-485-9715 to verify); such proof has been required at Palin's other Costco appearances. A basic membership costs $50 per year.

Update: According to a new Deseret News story, those who do not have Costco memberships will get the opportunity to purchase one and buy a copy of Going Rogue before Sarah Palin arrives for her appearance.

Those who want to meet Eagar as well should form up with the "Eagar to Support Sarah Palin" group in the Costco parking lot beginning at 11 A.M. Cherilyn Eagar asks that anyone wanting to join the fans can RSVP to an e-mail address provided on Eagar's official campaign website.

One caveat. Forming up with this group will not give you a preferential opportunity to get a ticket to buy the book. The tickets will be distributed by Costco personnel beginning at 10 A.M.; it's first come, first serve. That's because there is no official connection between Sarah Palin and the Eagar for Senate campaign; Sarah Palin has neither officially endorsed Cherilyn Eagar, nor has Eagar claimed any official endorsement from Palin, although Eagar takes pride in being compared with Palin.

KSL has now done a story on the lead-up to this event. Fans are already preparing to camp out overnight on Tuesday night.

Here's another story from KSTU Channel 13 showing Palin fans already lining up outside of Costco on Tuesday night in single-digit temperatures:

 

Utah Republican Party Chairman Dave Hansen is a bit unhappy that Sarah Palin is stopping in Utah merely to sign books, and wishes she would do more for the party in Utah.

Dan Jones Poll Shows Utah Senator Bob Bennett Far Ahead Of Republican Challengers, But Only 27 Percent Of All Respondents Want To Re-Elect Him

On December 1st, 2009, the Deseret News reported that Utah pollster Dan Jones took the political pulse of 408 registered Utah voters from November 19-23, and found that although U.S. Senator Bob Bennett is far ahead of his Republican challengers, only 27 percent of all respondents think he should be re-elected. This means people don't like Bob Bennett, but aren't quite sure who his replacement should be yet. Salt Lake Crawler also weighs in.

In response to the question about Bennett's re-election:

-- Re-elect Bennett: 27 percent
-- Give someone new a chance: 58 percent
-- Depends on who runs against Bennett: 7 percent
-- Don't know: 8 percent

And in response to the question about specific candidates:

-- Bob Bennett (R): 31 percent
-- Sam Granato (D): 14 percent
-- Cherilyn Eagar (R): 5 percent
-- Tim Bridgewater (R): 4 percent
-- Fred Lampropouolos (R): 4 percent
-- Mike Lee (R): 3 percent
-- James Williams (R): 1 percent

Lampropoulos has since dropped out, and Mike Lee has not jumped in yet, although he says he's interested.

The dichotomy was noticed by Dan Jones, who said the last time he saw such weak numbers for an incumbent was when former Rep. Merrill Cook sought re-election in 2000 amid scandal over his erratic behavior. Cook lost a GOP primary that year to Derek Smith, who in turn lost the general election to Democrat Jim Matheson. But in this case, there is no personal scandal involved; there is simply an anti-incumbent backlash building. Although conservatives are leading the way in challenging Bennett, the poll shows that similar percentages of conservatives, moderates and liberals all would like to see Bennett dumped next year.

But Bennett's toughest test will be at the state convention in May. It is possible that he will not get the 60 percent needed to avoid a primary fight, but most experts think he could win a primary election afterward. However, The Hill prognosticates that since a solid majority of those surveyed in the poll are Republicans or conservative-leaning voters, extrapolating those numbers among that segment of the population would indicate that Bennett’s reelect is well below 50 percent among primary voters.

One Week Later, Before I Could Learn To Spell His Name From Memory, Fred Lampropoulos Bows Out Of Senate Race Against Utah Senator Bob Bennett

Just one week after announcing his challenge to U.S. Senator Bob Bennett, and before I could even learn to spell his name from memory, Utah businessman Fred Lampropoulos has decided to bow out of the race against Bennett. Media story from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Lampropoulos, the CEO of Merit Medical, changed his mind because of what he termed an unexpected, tantalizing and still secret business opportunity. "At the end of the day, I could not walk away from this opportunity," he said in an interview on December 3rd shortly after participating in a job summit at the White House. He refused to detail the new business opportunity other than to say it would be an acquisition he has had his eye on for some time. If successful, it would result in hundreds of new jobs. Lampropoulos still believes Bennett should be replaced, but he isn't sure who he will back, although I have a feeling he'll eventually back Tim Bridgewater or perhaps Mike Lee if Lee jumps in.

And yes, he admits his sudden volte-face makes him look silly, so I guess I won't say it. But he did strike me as either a single-issue candidate (he was complaining about proposed new taxes on medical devices), or a red herring positioned to siphon votes away from Bennett's strongest Republican competitor, Cherilyn Eagar. So I didn't really take him seriously anyway. I also don't think Bob Bennett was exactly shaking in his shoes, either. On December 1st, the Deseret News reported that Bennett is still far ahead of his Republican challengers in a Dan Jones poll taken November 19-23.

A separate Tribune story describes the economic summit attended by Lampropoulos, who was one of over 130 civic and business leaders invited by President Barack Obama to the White House on December 3rd to discuss ways to spur immediate job growth as the nation crawls out of a deep economic recession. The official national unemployment rate is 10.2 percent -- the highest in a quarter century -- and it will likely climb when the new figure is released today (the unofficial unemployment rate, which includes those who have given up actively looking for work, is estimated to be as high as 20 percent). Utah's official unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent in October.

At the summit, Lampropoulos joined 29 other people in a subgroup discussing job creation and spurring competition. Business leaders weren't the only participants; the group also included university presidents, economists, nonprofit leaders and union representatives. His group discussed the sense of uncertainty surrounding major policy initiatives such as health care, regulatory reform and energy, which has CEOs hesitant about the potential impacts on their businesses. Lampropoulos encouraged the government to create a five-year tax credit for research and development instead of deciding on the funding annually.

"It was more engaging than I thought it was going to be," Lampropoulos said afterward. "I think there were some very good ideas put on the table."