Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Courting the Electorate

One of the best things ever is that my wife just became a state and county delegate in the Republican party. Since I'm one by virtue of my position, it means that we get to go to all the events (specifically the conventions and lunches) together now. On top of that, she's become very interested in the political process thanks to all the different things she's seen and helped me with, so now she can affect it. It's awesome.
Anyway, we were at a David Leavitt campaign event last week, and he continues to impress me. I like that he's running what I'll call an Obamaesque campaign - one that is taking the high road and could very well become a phenomenon among delegates. He's a very impressive speaker and has an impressive resume for a first time candidate. Of course, his Leavitt name (he's the brother of Mike Leavitt, former governor and current Secretary of Health and Human Services) doesn't hurt either. I really didn't think that I was going to change my support for Cannon and I'm still undecided. I probably won't end up making my decision until the convention, but it's now a much more difficult decision than it was. Last go-around we had a political opportunist who would jump at any open seat (Merrill Cook) and someone who, while probably a decent person, was a lousy candidate (John Jacob). Neither of them got me excited in the least. This campaign I actually have a choice to make. Do I keep Chris Cannon, who is a great person and I really like, but who is not very conciliatory and is quite partisan, or do I go to Leavitt, another great person and who is much more conciliatory? Right now it's up in the air, but I think that Leavitt might have won my wife over. We have yet to hear much from Jason Chaffetz, but his immigration stance and Huntsmanesque way of avoiding controversial opinions make me shy away.

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