Updated: Utah Caucus tonight. Will Orrin Hatch survive Freedomworks attacks? We will know in just an hour or so.

Orrin Hatch is being singled
out by Freedom Works because
he was borne into power in a
time before the conservative
revolution.  To brand him a
big government progressive
is more than wrong; to say that
he is not a conservative is sheer
ignorant idiocy.  

Update:  last night, Thursday the 15th,  125,000 caucus attendees gathered in a number of Utah locations to elect 4,000 delegates who will vote in an April primary.  And,  the prognosis looks good for Orrin Hatch's bid for his last announced term as Senator.  While the Ancient Media is trying to frame the GOP process as one that is lacking in enthusiasm,  the number of attendees,  last night,  was nearly twice the number of 2008.

Original text: (a note from an Utah citizen)
I for one, resent outside groups such as Freedom Works riding into town to tell us how to vote. I get calls almost every week from them, inviting me to meetings with the sole purpose of defeating Sen. Orrin Hatch in November. They don't extol the virtues of the opposing candidate, only blast Hatch.

If they were to sponsor a fair debate between Hatch and their candidate where both sides could present their ideas and defend themselves against the allegations Freedom Works makes, that would be less offensive.

Shouldn't we be able to study the issues and the candidates and make up our own minds without this group and their out-of-state money undermining our natural political process? And for those who think we need new blood in the Senate, you don't understand the system. Experience and seniority count. Orrin Hatch stands to become the chairman of the finance committee, making decisions that could affect all of us in major ways, not the least of which is retaining charitable deductions on our income taxes.

Let's not let these interlopers come to Utah and succeed in deceiving us.

Ruth Ann Smith

Editor's comment: I am a teapartier except for one thing:  I am not one to go along with the crowd.  "Go along to get along" has never been my forte.  A couple of weeks ago,  Jean Schmidt (R-Oh),  was "terminated" by teaparty enthusiasts,  when,  in fact,  she was/is a solid conservative voice (ranking as more the conservative than Michele Bachmann) .  Apparently,  we teaparty types have a litmus that all must bow to and it includes the vote on raising the debt ceiling and the vote on TARP.  Rep. Jean Schmidt's sin was voting to raise the debt ceiling,  in spite of the fact that to refuse to do so,  would cost the GOP the coming election.  Here is a basic rule:  one does not make major changes when one is not in power?  Here is a second rule:  why have a losing fight, now,  when you can wait until the next election and turn the world upside down?  

If we teaparty folks are going to continue to drive the political debate,  we had better develop a "commonsense" mentality,  or all the advances we have made will be lost.  You change what you can when you can -  and at no other time.  Let's not forget,  to stay in power,  we have to win elections.