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The right wing of the Republican Party flexed its muscles at the GOP state convention last week, showing those feeble party members who dare sway from pure red-meat ideologies that they are not welcome in Pleasantville.

They forced longtime incumbent Sen. Curt Bramble, president of the National Association of State Legislatures, into a primary against former House member Chris Herrod, who thought he was Patrick Henry and dubbed himself in campaign literature as one of the "Fab Five."

Another incumbent senator, Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, missed being forced into a primary by two votes, and that was after his district had to go through a second ballot because of irregularities the first time around.

Rep. Kraig Powell, R-Heber City, dropped out of his race for re-election before the convention because he tired of the political ugliness after he was the target of hit pieces from the Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity.

And in the big one, Gov. Gary Herbert was out-polled by political newcomer and libertarian leaning Jonathan Johnson 55 percent to 45 percent among the convention delegates. He and Johnson will now have a primary.

In all those cases, the incumbents were slapped by the delegates for not being pure enough, for actually endorsing and using the pathway to the ballot besides the delegate vote — the signature gathering process — which is anathema to the most stringent of the party faithful because it is them — not the unwashed masses — who should decide who should be on their party's ballot. Because they know better.

So the right wing roared.

But, I predict, they'll go home with their tails between their legs after the Republican primary, when the larger population of party loyalists get to vote.

We've seen this picture before.

Go back to 1992 when two-term Gov. Norm Bangerter announced he would not seek a third term and several Republicans jumped into the fray to succeed him.

Richard Eyre, the most conservative of the bunch, brought a live elephant to the GOP state convention in Ogden, which reportedly did its business near the Mike Leavitt table, as if to send a message.

Eyre won the delegate vote, but not by enough to avoid a primary, and he faced off with the more moderate Leavitt.

Once the voter field grew to several hundred thousand Republicans, as opposed to the few thousand delegates that much of the party vanguard believe should hold the keys to candidacy, Leavitt prevailed and would be re-elected twice more before accepting a position in President George W. Bush's cabinet.

By Leavitt's third try, he had angered enough of the purist right wing of the party that he was booed at the convention in West Valley City — mostly because he was willing to set certain limits on where the red meat people could carry their guns.

He even was forced into a primary against a guy named Glen Davis, who nobody heard of before and has not been heard from since.

Once in the larger arena of the primary election, Leavitt won in a landslide.

The year 2004 was a bit of an aberration because the two survivors of the convention among nine candidates for governor were Jon Huntsman Jr. and Nolan Karras, both relatively moderate.

But incumbent Olene Walker, who had taken over for Leavitt when he went to Washington and had an 84 percent approval rating, was dumped by the delegates because she refused to bow to the right-wing zealots on education issues.

Huntsman, who won the race and served as a moderate Republican governor, had to promise delegates that he supported vouchers, their pet issue that year, or he might not have made it through the convention, either.

The myth that convention delegates reflect the ideals of most Republicans was shown a few years ago in the Iron County Republican races for state senator and state representative.

Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, was almost eliminated at the Iron County Convention by tea party favorite Casey Anderson, who missed the 60 percent threshold by one vote.

Then Vickers squashed Anderson in the primary two-to-one.

And incumbent Rep. John Westwood ran even against Iron County Republican Chairman Blake Cozzens among convention delegates. Then Westwood won by a three-to-one margin in the primary.

Those who dispute my argument that the more moderate candidates who get pummeled in the closed conventions usually prevail in the primaries point to the Senate race of 2010, when the more conservative Mike Lee beat Tim Bridgewater in the primary after three-term Sen. Bob Bennett was ousted in the convention because he actually had the audacity to work across the aisle with Democrats to get things done.

But there was a reason for the Lee victory over the more moderate Bridgewater. Bridgewater had in 2002 been in a contentious primary fight with John Swallow — yeah, that John Swallow — for the Republican nomination to run against incumbent Democrat Jim Matheson.

After the primary, which Swallow narrowly won, Bridgewater refused to endorse Swallow in the general election. Matheson barely won, and many Republicans who have long memories blamed Bridgewater for the Republican loss.

So yes, the tea party wing of the GOP can rejoice in their superiority against the moderates — at least until June when the primary election is held.