Guest worker proponent wins Utah primary - Bush Campaigned For Him

Wednesday, June 28, 2006; Posted: 4:34 a.m. EDT (08:34 GMT)


CNN) -- Veteran Rep. Chris Cannon of Utah, under fire for his support of President Bush's guest worker program, survived a battle against a well-funded challenger Tuesday in Utah's Republican primary. With all the precincts reporting, Cannon won about 56 percent of the vote, compared to 44 percent for his challenger, John Jacob, according to election results posted on the state's Web site early Wednesday. Jacob, a wealthy businessman, had accused the conservative five-term lawmaker of supporting "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.

Anti-immigration groups poured money into the race and aired ads against Cannon, while both the president and first lady Laura Bush made automated phone calls on his behalf.

Cannon and Jacob squared off in Utah's 3rd District, which stretches from the western suburbs of Salt Lake City through Provo to rural counties in the southwestern part of the state. Cannon first won the solidly Republican district in 1996. But last month, Jacob used anger over the immigration issue to defeat Cannon at the state Republican convention, which forced Cannon into a primary that he conceded he could lose "if there are a lot of people who are really afraid ... and they vote against me."

"(The) disagreement is whether the Republican Party is going to be some kind of new, xenophobic, anti-foreigner party, or whether we're going to be the party of a country we're thrilled has grown," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/28/primary.elections/index.html

Even among the Republican base.

It was my understanding that the race was close, if so it makes it very easy to Die-bold the outcome.

Me thinks we witnessed the E-vote outcome in the California 50, just a few weeks ago. These of course are just guesses on my part, but these close elections all have an odor to them.