Conservative commentator Mills Crenshaw had serial political candidate Merrill Cook on his morning radio program Wednesday and asked his audience to weigh in on whether Cook should run again in 2010.

Cook has indicated he is considering a run against incumbent Democrat Jim Matheson in Utah's 2nd Congressional District this year, and 46 listeners called in to encourage him to run. None told him not to.

That paltry number would be no big deal, except that Crenshaw took the question one step further. He asked his K-TALK audience to choose whether Cook should run against the only Democrat in Utah's congressional delegation or against fellow Republican Sen. Bob Bennett in the GOP state convention.

Thirty of the 46 wanted Cook to run against Bennett, nine preferred he take on Matheson and seven didn't care. Again, the number is insignificant. But from a sampling of right-wing radio patrons, the fact a strong majority is more concerned about beating their own party's incumbent than knocking off a Democrat is yet another sign that Bennett, a three-term Senate veteran, is in deep trouble with his own base.

Crenshaw told me that many of his listeners can't forgive Bennett for supporting President Barack Obama's stimulus package, which he actually didn't. What he supported was the TARP bank bailout program initiated by Republican George W. Bush's administration. "They don't seem to distinguish between the two," Crenshaw said. "Among my listeners, the perception is that Bennett supported the stimulus."

Another caution for Bennett is the Tea Party movement that is getting increasingly testy toward incumbents, including Republicans. When Bennett's Senate colleague, Orrin Hatch, spoke at a town hall meeting in American Fork Wednesday, he criticized conservative extremists for factionalizing the party to the point that some Republicans have lost to liberal Democrats. His remarks were met with derision by folks in the audience who insisted that conservative principles should not be compromised.

Hatch's ordeal was similar to that of then-Republican State Chairman Joe Cannon when he addressed a convention of the far-right Eagle Forum a few years ago. Cannon told the crowd that even if their conservative candidate were defeated in a primary by a moderate Republican, they should get behind the moderate because any Republican would be better than a Democrat. Cannon was basically booed off the dais.

The irony for Hatch and Bennett is that they defended the Tea Party extremists when the senators were shouting down Democrats at town hall meetings and railing against Obama's health reform plans.

But, like Frankenstein's monster, the partiers are now gobbling up GOP incumbents who supported the movement when it was targeting Democrats, but whose own conservative records are seen now as insufficiently pure. And the more Bennett tries to reconcile with these volatile smack talkers who could make the difference in the May 8 party nominating convention, the more trouble he invites.

In recent months he has tried to show himself as an uncompromising opponent of all things Obama with a flurry of press releases lambasting the president. But when he touted his recent vote against raising the nation's debt ceiling, it was pointed out that his votes to raise the debt ceiling when Republican George W. Bush was president totaled more than $1 trillion.

What is more, while Hatch and Bennett blasted the Democratic plan to mandate health insurance coverage for everyone, National Public Radio ran an in-depth piece last week noting that the two Utahns had co-sponsored legislation in the 1990s to -- you guessed it -- mandate health insurance coverage for everyone.