In the meantime, we thought it would be nice for them to report to their constituents what they did on their congressional summer vacation:
* Sen. Orrin Hatch: Visited with families at the Crandall Canyon mine disaster and held meetings in southern Utah on various issues. He also hosted a three-day golf tournament, and of note, celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife, Elaine, and their family.
* Sen. Bob Bennett: Flew to Germany for an Aspen Institute forum on Iraq, Russia and Europe. He also made a trip to Huntington for the mine-disaster briefings. And for fun, took some time out for a vacation to Aspen Grove with his wife, Joyce, his children and grandchildren and caught several plays at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City
* Rep. Jim Matheson: Also spent time near the mine-disaster site - which is in his district - consoling families and working with federal officials. His office also says that today he'll be speaking at the Parowan history commemoration and walking in the Parowan Labor Day parade Monday.
* Rep. Rob Bishop: Spent some time at Hill Air Force Base, toured a water facility in northern Utah, hit a couple of county fair parades and made a radio-show appearance. Best of all, though, Bishop stopped back into the District of Columbia in time to play the first and second rounds of the congressional softball tournament. He pitched the whole first game and scored the winning run in the second.
* Rep. Chris Cannon: Traveled to Kazakhstan to Make Benefit that Glorious Nation that is the home of the fictional character Borat. Cannon spoke at a nuclear nonproliferation conference at the request of the Kazakh president but, unfortunately, did not make a single Borat pun.
Romney's 'Big Love'
moment
Political observers have long wondered what kind of effect, if any, the HBO hit "Big Love" - about a polygamist family in Utah - would have on Mitt Romney's presidential bid. Well, finally, Romney got a mention on the show, in the form of a television announcer discussing a recent controversy about Romney letting his dog ride in a carrier on his car's roof during a trip to Canada. The Boston Herald reports that there is a scene in the most recent episode in which a TV announcer, not seen on the screen, says, “He saved the Olympics. Who cares if he lets his dog ride on the roof of his car? People are just out to get him for any little thing.”
Any little thing, like, ya know, bringing up polygamy.
Democrats answer
Utah man's prayer
South Jordan resident Seth Ford got his question answered by all of the Democratic candidates for president on Aug. 19. Ford, in an e-mail to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, asked, "My question is to understand each candidate's view of a personal God. Do they believe that, through the power of prayer, disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the Minnesota bridge collapse could have been prevented or lessened?"
Every candidate answered essentially that yes, they pray daily and believe it is important but that prayer alone does not prevent disasters. But Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a long-shot contender who rarely got quizzed during the televised debate, had the best response:
"George, I've been standing here for the last 45 minutes praying to God you were going to call on me."
Mr. Canham goes to
Washington
As readers of the D.C. Notebook may remember, Trib reporter Robert Gehrke has returned to the land of the Beehive. His replacement in the D.C. Bureau, Matt Canham, has arrived to fill out the Trib's team here in the nation's capital. Canham, a former University of Utah Daily Chronicle editor, has been with the Trib since 2002 covering cops, criminals and politicians. His mug, along with his wit, will now accompany this column.
---
* BURR AND CANHAM work in The Trib's Washington bureau. They can be reached at tburr@sltrib .com and mcanham @sltrib.com.
