Local Primary *UPDATED*

Voters in the 3d Congressional District in Utah gave Chris Cannon his walking papers last night.

The morning radio news delivered the pronouncement that the Utah voters wanted a "more conservative" representative.

That's not quite accurate.

We want a conservative representative who gets the job done, and after six terms it was pretty clear that that wasn't going to happen. With the future in the hands of practically unassailable Democrat majorities in both houses we desperately need new voices not tied to the class of Republicans who squandered their mandate in favor of getting along with the opposition and the media.

Back when I was a Republican delegate I had the opportunity to observe, and speak directly with, Rep. Cannon at several different events. The moment that sticks in my mind was when he was questioned about the then - pending immigration amnesty and he interrupted the questioner with the words "We can't deport twelve million people!".

That's not the solution to the problem, and his obvious inability to see that is what compelled me to consider voting against him in that primary. His primary challenger at the time turned out to be an even worse choice than Cannon, so I ended up voting for him as a "lesser of two evils" choice.

Not again.

Thanks for your service, sir.

UPDATE: At 0740, Kelly Patterson of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at BYU was interviewed by KSL radio, and opined that Cannon fell primarily to a growing national anti-incumbent sentiment. First I've heard that it's national. It should be.