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Baptist leader: Mormonism more of a concern than Gingrich's infidelity. Clark resigns. Pro-Huntsman PAC is back.
Happy Tuesday. Former House Speaker Dave Clark formally resigned from the Legislature yesterday as he moved closer to a congressional bid. State law forbids fund-raising during the General Session, a point that could hamstring sitting lawmakers who need to raise loads of cash for federal races. [Trib] [DNews]
-> The Washington County Republican Party was quick to set a meeting for Jan. 5 to select Clark's replacement for District 74 so that there's a representative in place for the General Session starting later in January.
Topping the news: Weeks before the Iowa caucuses a barrage of negative advertising -- mainly from pro-Mitt Romney folks -- has eroded support for Newt Gingrich and tossed the race wide-open for either candidate. [AP]
-> The new head of the South Carolina Baptist Convention says Gingrich's infidelity and past marriages are less of a concern in the state than Romney's Mormonism. [Patch]
-> The pro-Jon Huntsman SuperPAC is out with its latest video, borrowing heavily from RedState's Erick Erickson's praise of the former Utah governor. [Politico] The group also took out a full-page ad in the Union Leader highlighting those comments. [Globe]
-> Dewey McKay, a Brigham City doctor convicted of illegally prescribing painkillers, is sentenced to 20 years in prison. Rep. Rob Bishop had gone to bat for McKay as a character witness. [StandEx]
Check it out: ABC News launched its Match-o-Matic to help you decide which candidate -- one of the Republicans or Democrat Barack Obama -- most closely matches your positions. [ABCNews]
Tweet of the day: From @EthanMillard: "Hey, if you can't claim "UTA" with a tag on Trax then where can you? Represent!" [YFrog]
Happy birthday: To Mandy Rogers.
In other news: E&E's Mike Soraghan continues his look into the drilling industry and regulation with the latest story on how some 40 percent of regulators have industry ties. [E&E]
-> Rep. Jason Chaffetz is helping to lead a House GOP revolt against a Senate-passed version to extend the payroll tax cut. [Trib]
-> Sen. Mike Lee joins Sen. Herb Kohl in asking regulators to investigate Google for anti-trust concerns. [LATimes]
-> Retired general Peter Cooke says he's going to take on Gov. Gary Herbert. [Trib]
-> Utah Policy continues its countdown of the state's top 10 political news stories. No. 8: Gov. Gary Herbert gets two challengers. [UtahPolicy]
-> The Unified Fire Authority opens a new station in Magna, reducing response times. [DNews]
-> A West Jordan nursing program could close its doors. [DNews]
2012 watch: Huffington Post puts together shots of the presidential candidate's kids on the campaign trail. [HuffPost]
-> Romney appears on The Late Show with David Letterman and offers his own Top 10, including this gem: "Gingrich? Really?" [NYDailyNews]
-> This cycle's Republican primary could end up being very drawn out, worrying some operatives that it will ding the GOP's chances in November. [RollCall]
-> A Forbes contributor hails Huntsman's plan to tax companies that are too-big-to-fail. [Forbes]
-> Huntsman says he's more electable than Mitt Romney. [Patch]
-> Romney said he expected the attacks that he's like the Wall Street movie's Gordon Gekko. [Bloomberg]
-> Romney also says he knows he has to overcome the concern that he's not authentic enough. [Globe]
Where are they?
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-- Thomas Burr
Twitter.com/thomaswburr
