No Country for GOP Incumbents

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As TPM Election Central’s Eric Kleefeld noted early this evening, there was a hotly contested GOP house primary tonight in Utah’s 3rd district, the seat currently held by Rep. Chris Cannon (R). You may remember Cannon for talking up the benefits women get from polygamy or pointing out that those teenage pages were just “egging [Rep. Mark Foley] on.”

As Kleefeld aptly described it, this was a face off between a “right-wing buffoon versus a right-wing suit.” But one might also say that it was a face between a very right-wing incumbent versus a very, very right-wing challenger.

And as TPM Reader BT has just pointed out, with 79% reporting, challenger Jason Chaffetz is clobbering Cannon 60%-40%. Unless, there’s some really weird geographic skew in how the votes are coming, I’d say this probably means Cannon’s toast.

When a Republican incumbent loses to an even more ideologically extreme challenger, Dems often think they may have a shot.

On the other hand, this district voted 77% for President Bush in 2004. So I’m not holding my breath on this one.

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