This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Props to our editorial brethren at The Houston Chronicle, who today all but retracted their 2012 endorsement of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, leader — along with Utah's Sen. Mike Lee — of the embarrassing and damaging government shutdown.

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— Why we miss Kay Bailey Hutchison — Houston Chronicle Editorial

"Does anyone else miss Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison?

"We're not sure how much difference one person could make in the toxic, chaotic, hyperpartisan atmosphere in Washington, but if we could choose just one it would be Hutchison, whose years of service in the Senate were marked by two things sorely lacking in her successor, Ted Cruz. ...

"... When we endorsed Ted Cruz in last November's general election, we did so with many reservations and at least one specific recommendation — that he follow Hutchison's example in his conduct as a senator.

"Obviously, he has not done so. Cruz has been part of the problem in specific situations where Hutchison would have been part of the solution. ..."

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So, why are we at The Salt Lake Tribune not now drafting an editorial headlined "Why we miss Bob Bennett"? (Even though we do, indeed, miss Bob Bennett).

Because The Tribune did not endorse Mike Lee when he was elected in 2010. We endorsed his Democratic opponent, and now member of the Salt Lake County Council, Sam Granato.

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— "Sam Granato: Send small businessman to Senate — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial, Oct. 10, 2010:

"Sam Granato is the kind of guy voters often say they want to represent them in Washington.

"He's a small businessman who runs the food importer and deli his father founded and in which Sam has worked from the time he was a kid. "He's lived in Utah all his life and took his college degree in business from Southern Utah State College. He's served his community on the Salt Lake City-County Board of Health and is the current chairman of the Utah Liquor Commission. He's one of us, a regular Sam.

"That's one reason we are encouraging Utahns to send him to the U.S. Senate. But there are others. ...

"... Granato's opponent is Mike Lee, a radical, hard-right Republican lawyer whose policy stands flow from his extremist reading of the Constitution. He argues for repealing the income tax, asserting limited state sovereignty over federal lands in Utah and amending the 14th Amendment so that children born in the United States to parents who do not have legal status here would not be citizens.

"Granato hopes to accomplish the return to civility in politics that Americans say they want. We believe he would work with members of both parties. That's another reason he deserves Utahns' support on Election Day."

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So, did we call that one, or what?