The U.S. Olympic team has enlisted Sen. Orrin Hatch in its attempt to intimidate any company from trying to glom on to the Games in their advertising.

Their targets include Subway, which had the audacity to include uber-Olympian Michael Phelps in an ad campaign suggesting he is swimming his way to Vancouver for the Winter Games.

The Olympics considers that ambush advertising and Hatch agrees. He released a statement denouncing unfair and unauthorized marketing that does not help the athletes succeed.

"I pledge to protect this critical lifeline that ensures that our athletes are given every means to win," he said.

And the gold medal for protecting the Olympic franchise goes to ...

Philpot isn't a Young Gun

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced a list of 10 GOP candidates who are establishing a clear path to victory this November. The list includes several Republican challengers taking on vulnerable Dems or open seats.

But the list doesn't include former Utah state Rep. Morgan Philpot, who is taking on Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson.

Philpot only recently announced his bid but the NRCC is unlikely to spend big on the Utah race since it's being out-fundraised 6-1 so far by the NRCC's Democratic counterpart and sees potentially more winnable races elsewhere.

In politics, it is hard for a young gun to win against an established fighter with a big arsenal.

Utah's RNC man now bid booster

Utahn Bruce Hough relinquished his spot on the selection committee for the 2012 Republican Convention because Salt Lake City has been named one of the three finalists for the massive political gathering. The others are Phoenix and Tampa.

Republican National Committee rules don't allow any city to stack the deck, so an Alaskan is taking Hough's place.

The musical chairs allows Hough to formally join the bid committee and lobby his former colleagues to help Utah get the first RNC convention in a mountain west state. And he still gets a vote, as does Utah's Republican National Committewoman Enid Greene Michelson at the RNC's summer meeting to select the winning locale for the convention.

If Utah succeeds, it would be the state's biggest get since the 2002 Olympics, though no one is suggesting Hough start bribing the committee to win the bid.

Unwelcome attention

A fellow Senate Republican is touting Sen. Bob Bennett's health reform proposal as a good jumping off point for a bipartisan solution, an idea that likely makes Bennett groan in disgust.

The Utah senator has distanced himself from his own health plan in recent days, saying the atmosphere in the Senate is so toxic it's not time to put anything forward on health care.

The atmosphere in Utah might be a bigger issue for Bennett.

His challengers have decried his plan, which breaks the link between employment and health insurance and requires everyone to buy coverage, as heavy-handed government. The conservative Club for Growth has also called for Bennett's head over the proposal

And in the middle of all of this, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., touted Bennett's plan as a good jumping off point for new bipartisan health talks.

We know it is Valentine's Day, but this is some love Bennett could live without.

Burr and Canham report for The Tribune in the nation's capitol. They can be reached at tburr@sltrib.com or mcanham@sltrib.com. Follow them on Twitter (@thomaswburr and @mattcanham) and read Out of Context (blogs.sltrib.com/utpolitics)