In Republican News
As Utahns get ready to kiss the magic ring of Mitt Romney, only a tropical
storm can save the Republican Convention from a zero interest rating. There are no GOP challengers to speak of, and Romney has already picked his vice president. Unless they rolled out Ann Romney on her horse, there’s not much hope for major-network coverage. Maybe you can find her, along with Mia Love the flag runner and the ever-jovial Jason Chaffetz on YouTube. But then, let’s not forget NPR. That “left-wing” organization is covering the convention from beginning to end. Vince Horiuchi of The Salt Lake Tribune points out the irony here. If elected, Romney would work to do away with any subsidies to the public network. Maybe he’s fine with Fox News for coverage.
They Took Our Lands
Well, it’s hardly news that Utah wants the federal government to “give back” its public lands. And Mitt Romney wants more drilling. To that end, Utah can now look forward to Utah’s Freedom Conference, set for Sept. 15 at the University of Utah. The conference will focus on “lands, sound money and the role of the constitutional sheriff.” Who knew? There’s a controversial national group of sheriffs that believes that they are the authority to enforce anything to do with lands—and that includes federal land. Rep. Craig Frank, the on-again/off-again Republican representative from Pleasant Grove, is a huge supporter, as he is of Chick-fil-A. It’s a free-market thing.
Rocking the Vote
It’s kind of a good-news/bad-news thing. The good news is rising political involvement in the Latino community—
at least in the number of candidates. This year in Salt Lake County, there are eight Democratic Latino candidates and one Republican. This jibes with the bad news for the GOP, which appears to be losing support among Latinos, perhaps mainly because of the GOP’s hard stand on immigration. Republicans like Attorney General Mark Shurtleff think that hurts the GOP. But whatever the issue, it’s a sure thing that Latinos are rising in population. And while they could make a difference politically this year, they definitely will down the road as the older, white baby-boomer generation dies out. Now, the task is to get them to vote.
About The Author
Katharine Biele
A City Weekly contributor since 1992, Katharine Biele is the informed voice behind our Hits & Misses column. When not writing, you can catch her working to empower voters and defend democracy alongside the League of Women Voters.
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