Far right turns up the heat on GOP

Washington » Republican candidates beware.

A loose-knit network of passionate conservative activists are ready to do battle with powerful incumbents, party insiders and just about anyone else willing to compromise on key fiscal or social issues.

Spurred on by the likes of Sarah Palin, Fox News and talk-radio personalities, these "tea party" Republicans are making life difficult for establishment candidates in states like Pennsylvania, Florida and even Utah, where Sen. Bob Bennett has been under siege from the far right.

Their latest victory -- and failure -- took place in a New York congressional race last week where their constant pressure forced a liberal Republican to withdraw, pitting a member of the Conservative Party against the Democratic nominee. When the votes were tallied Tuesday, a seat that has been in Republican hands since the 1870s went to the Democrat.

The campaign for New York's 23rd District sparked an intense debate among leading Republicans. Purists like Palin, the former GOP vice presidential nominee, and Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz say the party needs to back candidates "committed" to conservative values. But pragmatists like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch warn that conservative Republicans are not palatable to voters everywhere.

"It is good to push conservative causes but we've got to understand there are certain areas where a conservative

hasn't got a chance," said Hatch, the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which raises money for Senate candidates.

During a presentation to the conservative Heritage Foundation on Wednesday he pointed to the Northeast as an area with few Republican officeholders.

"The ones we do have are quite moderate to liberal and we need them," Hatch said. "We absolutely need them."

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Bull's-eye on Bennett » Few would consider Utah's Bennett a liberal Republican, or even a moderate for that matter. Yet in his 2010 re-election fight, he is facing three challengers for his party's nomination and others have hinted they may jump into the contest.

They most frequently point to his vote in favor of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout last fall or his attempt at a bipartisan health reform bill.

But for others the frustration stretches back to the presidency of George W. Bush. Spending rose, the national debt grew and government expanded while the GOP ran Congress and the White House.

Chaffetz said he harnessed this anger when he beat a six-term Republican incumbent last year to become Utah's newest House member.

"I argued that Republicans had the House, the Senate and the presidency and they blew it," Chaffetz said. "And if voters want different results they are going to have to elect different people. There are quite a few folks back here in D.C. who don't like me saying that, but I think it reflects the viewpoint of the grass roots."

For now, Chaffetz said he plans to run for re-election in Utah's 3rd Congressional District, but he hasn't ruled out a challenge to Bennett, a member of the Republican leadership team in the Senate who is deeply involved in budgetary and financial issues.

"He is going to have to explain to the base of Republican voters why he thinks he is a fiscal conservative, because there are a lot who don't believe that," Chaffetz said.

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Anti-incumbent » One of them is Adam Gardiner, a Layton resident who organized a tea party protest in mid-April.

The crowd of 2,000 Utahns repeatedly booed the mention of Bennett and Hatch while railing against government spending and the federal bailout of troubled banks.

"He is just too liberal for my taste," Gardiner said of Bennett. The conservative activist is leaning toward supporting Tim Bridgewater in Utah's Senate race.

One of the most established groups prodding the Republican Party is the anti-tax Club for Growth, which ignores social hot buttons but is passionate about fiscal conservatism.

Known for targeting Republicans, the Club spent heavily in New York's District 23 race and has recently gone after Bennett for supporting a bipartisan health reform bill that the Senate has not seriously considered. Bennett touts the bill as a reasonable way to insure more Americans and reduce costs, but The Club for Growth says in TV ads and mailers that it is a government power grab.

Bennett didn't take the attack lightly. He lashed back at the Club and made a spirited defense of his legislation. Then he conducted polls to see how badly the tactic hurt his candidacy.

"As nearly as I can tell, The Club for Growth has had no impact in Utah," said Bennett. "They wasted their money and they caused us to waste a little money to find that out."

Chris Chocola, president of The Club for Growth, said the money was well spent if it forced Bennett to step up his challenges to the health reform bills pushed by Obama.

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No repeat of the Bush years » Gardiner, a sophomore at Weber State who lost a race for Layton City Council in last Tuesday's election, says it isn't enough to prod incumbents to stick to the party line. And the last thing he wants to see is another Republican majority bolstered by moderates. If that happens, he expects a repeat of the Bush years.

"We did nothing with our power," he said. "We couldn't get anything changed."

Those with similar views backed a conservative challenger to Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter earlier this year. The long-time Republican known for his independence reacted by becoming a Democrat. And tea party activists have now set their sights on Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a moderate Republican who supported President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill. Crist is running for the Senate, and while he has the endorsement of Hatch's fundraising committee, he still faces a strong conservative challenger in the primary.

Chaffetz and Gardiner see these party fights as part of a populist uprising.

"There is a sense of empowerment by the people that they can take down an incumbent. I think my candidacy represented that and I think certainly what is happening in New York gave people a sense of empowerment," Chaffetz said.

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All politics is local » Bennett says the idea of a conservative revolution is overblown and that races, as always, will be "decided on the basis of local conditions."

He also notes that this is not purely a Republican phenomenon.

Liberal groups, such as MoveOn.org, have gone after moderate Democrats, most famously Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who ended up losing the Democratic nomination in his last campaign yet won re-election as an independent.

"There is obviously some connection between the various groups rising up on the right and the left and the connection is facilitated by the Internet," Bennett said.

The three-term senator acknowledged that Republican voters were ready to turn on incumbents following the 2008 elections, but says his reelection hopes have become brighter.

"I've watched over the last nine months as that disillusionment diminished and the anger turned away from Republican incumbents toward President Obama," Bennett said. "That's why I feel I am in much better shape now than I was in January or February."

But Chaffetz doesn't buy it.

"This is not a fleeting discontent," he said. "I think the country as a whole is still frustrated with Washington, D.C., and they who personify Washington, D.C., are going to continue to struggle through 2010."

Bennett said his Washington credentials are a benefit, not a hindrance, giving him clout in the Capitol that no upstart could match. His colleague, Hatch, uses the same argument in explaining why he endorsed the incumbent.

"When you get someone like that who is basically voting for Utah's interests, I would suggest it is pennywise and pound-foolish to try to get rid of that person," Hatch said. "The key is, is the person acting in your state's best interest? And I think Bob Bennett does."

In this political tussle between purists and pragmatists, between the disaffected and the party elite, Bennett sides with the pragmatists.

"My own conviction in Utah is that I'm the candidate who is most viable and if any of my opponents were the nominee, they would lose to the Democrat," Bennett said. "So that is a dumb thing to do."

mcanham@sltrib.com