Rep. Jim Matheson may appear to be a pretty safe incumbent in Utah. He won his last race by nearly 30 percentage points. He has $1 million in campaign funds in the bank and no one has stepped forward yet to challenge him next year.

But that hasn't stopped the National Republican Congressional Committee from including Utah's lone Democrat in Congress on its list of 70 targets for the 2010 election cycle, according to a memo obtained by Politico .

National Republicans have a hard time reconciling Matheson's repeated success with the demographics of the 2nd District. Registered Republicans clearly outnumber Democrats, and the GOP presidential candidate always beats out the Dem by big margins.

NRCC head Rep. Pete Sessions, of Texas, said recruiting is going well for candidates to challenge Matheson and the other 69 Democrats.

Their plan is to hit Democrats for backing President Barack Obama's signature energy and health-care proposals, which are not all that popular in conservative areas.

Even here, Republicans will have a hard time with Matheson, one of the House's most conservative Democrats. He voted with the Republicans on those issues.

Palin payback for Hatch? » Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (yes, it's former now that she officially resigned her office to do, well, something) recently donated $1,000 to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

If nothing else, maybe it was a payback for this Hatch quote from the Republican Convention, courtesy of KPCC public radio:

"When John announced Sarah Palin, I had tears in my eyes. And I thought the Republicans will be the first in the union to put a woman in the White House."

Utahn one of 'Most Beautiful'» A Utahn has snagged a spot on The Hill 's list of the "50 Most Beautiful People of Capitol Hill."

Melissa Adamson, a redheaded Democrat from Salt Lake City, earned a spot out of 500 submissions to make the paper's annual listing of hotties, where she was referred to as the "Globetrotter" for her work as director of Interparliamentary Affairs for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Adamson is the lead staffer for the House delegation to NATO's Parliamentary Assembly. But, according to a short profile in The Hill , she also has been dubbed the "unofficial social coordinator/caterer/baker/decorator" for her skills in organizing get-togethers.

And when she's not playing classical piano, running marathons or dealing with "high-stakes foreign affairs," Adamson likes to bake cookies -- chocolate chip, to be exact.

Alas, potential suitors be warned: Adamson is dating former Green Beret Roger Carstens, a star of NBC's new reality program, "The Wanted."

Chaffetz likes Chaffetz » One of the best Facebook notifications in recent weeks:

"Jason Chaffetz suggested you become a fan of Jason Chaffetz. ... Jason became a fan of Jason Chaffetz on Facebook and suggested you become a fan, too."

Well, at least he's for himself.

Burr and Canham report for The Salt Lake Tribune from Washington. They can be reached at tburr@sltrib.com or mcanham@sltrib.com. For more political tidbits, visit http://blogs.sltrib.com/utahpolitics.