Underestimating Public Sentiment

Many of you haven't been following the Congressional race for Utah's 3rd district. Not that I can blame you, I've just recently took a greater interest in politics. I was a state delegate for the first time this year and went to the Republican State convention. It was an interesting process to see how some real political junkies interact and participate in the process. I'll spare you the details in this post of my thoughts on the convention, but want to mention that what came out of the convention is what I will believe a trend you'll see to a much greater degree nationwide this fall.

In this particular race you had three main candidates, Jason Chaffetz, David Leavitt, and the incumbent Chris Cannon. Both leading up to the convention and prior to the primary I spent time going to delegate meetings, attending debates, and meeting with the candidates themselves. What I found interesting was how badly both Leavitt and Cannon (for that matter nearly everybody) underestimated Mr. Chaffetz. Chaffetz won because of three things.

1. His passion came through in his speeches, delegate meetings, and debates.
2. He was very focused on his talking points and was able to articulate his positions on key issues very clearly.
3. The third and in my opinion, most important reason, the public is very upset with the direction of the country and the status quo.

I think Leavitt represented change every bit as much as Chaffetz, but his campaign focused too much on "feelings"--motherhood and apple pie, and did not communicate the vision that Leavitt had. I respect him as a man and think he would be a great representative back in Washington, but he never got his message, his vision, and his position on the issues into the public in a clear concise manner, and that is what cost him the opportunity to square off against an opponent in the primary.

To Chris Cannon, I wish him well. I think he voted the way most Republicans would have voted on the issues he was faced with. He was a fine statesman, and a good legislator, he cared deeply about this country, he had some good ideas and represented our state well. I offer him my thanks.

For me, the jury remains out on Jason Chaffetz. Many describe him as a political opportunist. He was the candidate I spent the least amount of time interacting with. His speeches were great, he is a motivating guy, but I have many reservations about him. I hope I'm wrong, I hope he'll be a great Congressman for our state.

I believe that this fall we'll see many politicians fall the way Chris Cannon did. People are generally dissatisfied with our politicians. I just hope we are all wise and don't seek change just for change sake. We do need change, but we need change that will lead to real solutions.