This afternoon, my phone started blowing up with news that Senator Orin Hatch, Republican of Utah, will not seek re-election this coming fall. This is terrific news because he’s literally been in the Senate for most of my life and Utahns? Utahans? Utites? Aw, hell, residents of Utah, deserve a chance for some new blood.
Also, every Republican retirement is good news for Democrats because it’s harder to challenge an incumbent than it is to run against a new candidate. The power of name recognition is very, very strong.
Just ask Mitt Romney.
No sooner had the ding of news alerts about Hatch faded than rumors of Romney seeking his seat started to swirl. This is not a new rumor, this very scenario has been considered for a while now. It’s not surprising that news outlets are reporting on the possibility.
Nor is it surprising that liberal Twitter started a unison chorus of whining that Mitt Romney is a failed presidential candidate, why don’t conservatives want him to vanish the way they seem to want Hillary Clinton to vanish, huh, huh, ya sexist pigs, huh?
Guys. This is not a useful response. It’s a typical response but it’s not useful.
I don’t know much about Utah politics but I do know that right now, there are potential Democratic candidates eyeing the Senate election and considering jumping in. Some of them might be truly kickass women, maybe even some young (or young-ish) women, women with amazing state and local experience who can bring new insight and ideas to the US Senate…if only liberals would get busy seeking out and supporting them.
We all should have immediately headed to Flippable or 538 for analysis on how best to approach the election given new information. Instead, it seems like everyone is giving all the air in the room to Mitt freakin’ Romney. He doesn’t need the air! He’s famous as fuck already! The liberal chattering class doesn’t need to pay him any attention! Ignore the Mitt!
This is my biggest beef with liberals as a community. Our first response if often to talk about why conservatives are bad. The downside of that is that we’re talking about conservatives, not ourselves. Why are we shining our spotlight on them? Make them work for the attention.
Flipping control of the Senate is possible. Maybe Utah isn’t the state to that will tip the scales…but maybe it is. Roy Moore lost to a Democrat, despite his huge name recognition and the wildly conservative electorate in Alabama. We could make the Utah race competitive but only if we give our candidates more oxygen than we give theirs.
Keep your eyes on the prize, friends. Eyes on the prize.
