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Issues/News>
CQ: "Chaffetz...overwhelming favorite"
June 25, 2008
CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION – POLITICS
June 25, 2008 – 9:44 p.m.
Utah Primary Winner Sets Sights on Capitol Hill, Hopes to
Emulate Flake
By Michael Teitelbaum, CQ Staff
The upset winner of a House primary in Utah hopes to "lock
arms" with Rep. Jeff Flake next year and get to work right
away on budget and earmark issues.
First-time candidate Jason Chaffetz, who beat six-term Rep.
Chris Cannon in the June 24 Republican primary for the
state's GOP-heavy 3rd District, will be the overwhelming
favorite to win a seat in the 111th Congress in November.
In an interview Wednesday, Chaffetz said he wants to
emulate Flake, R-Ariz. — a fellow Brigham Young University
alumnus — on earmarks and budgetary issues.
Unlike many freshmen, he said he won't have a low profile
but would speak out early about reducing spending.
Chaffetz owns a corporate communications and marketing firm
and is a former campaign manager and chief of staff for
Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.
In his campaign, Chaffetz benefited from a bit of celebrity
— he was once a football placekicker for BYU — and a theme
of change that resonated in a year when many voters are
expressing dissatisfaction with political "insiders."
Chaffetz's political path to Congress has an unusual twist:
His father's first wife was Katherine "Kitty" Dickson.
After their divorce, she married Michael S. Dukakis, who
went on to become the governor of Massachusetts and the
1988 Democratic nominee for president. The younger Chaffetz
was a Utah co-chairman of Dukakis' campaign.
That contest ended as presidential races typically do in
Utah, with Republican nominee George Bush easily carrying
the state. Chaffetz soon shed his connection with the
Democratic Party.
After he got married and converted to Mormonism, Chaffetz
said, he became a Republican. He describes former President
Ronald Reagan as his political hero.
Primary Fight
Chaffetz said he was not surprised at the size of his win —
he took 60 percent of the vote to Cannon's 40 percent, with
all precincts reporting — and was proudest of his campaign
work in rural counties, which he said he visited often.
Chaffetz had criticized Cannon as insufficiently
conservative, citing, among other issues, Cannon's support
for the education law known as "No Child Left Behind" (PL
107-110).
Cannon fended off GOP challengers in 2004 and 2006. He has
been attacked in the past for his stance on immigration.
Like President Bush, he favors a guest worker program.
This week's primary result was less a massive surge for
Chaffetz than Cannon's s failure to generate the kind of
turnout that often benefits incumbents.
Cannon had 18,208 votes to 27,266 for Chaffetz, a total of
just under 45,500.
By comparison, Cannon alone drew nearly 33,000 votes in a
2006 Republican primary in which nearly 60,000 voters
participated.
The results were in spite of the fact that Chaffetz had far
less money than Cannon and ran a frugal campaign with no
paid staff or polling.
Cannon raised more than $760,000 — including more than
$100,000 in the past three weeks — while Chaffetz gathered
almost $175,000.
"I wanted the way I ran my campaign to be indicative of how
I would be spending taxpayer money in office," Chaffetz
said.
Cannon is the first House incumbent defeated in a primary
since Republican Wayne T. Gilchrest and Democrat Albert R.
Wynn, both of Maryland, lost Feb. 12. Wynn has since
resigned.
Chaffetz will be the overwhelming favorite for his November
general election contest against Bennion L. Spencer, a
former television reporter who was unopposed for the
Democratic nomination. CQ Politics rates the general
election race as Safe Republican.
A version of this story originally appeared on
CQPolitics.com.
Source: CQ Today Print Edition
(Tip of the day: Jason's last name is pronounced "Chay-fits")
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