Utah Republicans Choose Successor to Robert Bennett on Tuesday

Businessman Tim Bridgewater and lawyer Mike Lee -- the two men who came out ahead of three-term Republican Sen. Robert Bennett for the GOP Senate nomination in last month's Republican convention -- head into Tuesday's primary with Bridgewater nursing a modest lead, according to a Deseret News/KSL-TV poll conducted June 12-17.

The winner is likely to be the state's senator given its conservative politics and given that Utah has not elected a Democrat in four decades.

Bridgewater leads Lee by 42 percent to 33 percent with 25 percent undecided among likely voters. The margin of error is 4 points.

But given the large number of undecided, pollster Dan Jones told The News, "This is going to be very, very difficult to call. In the old vernacular, this is a horse race."

While both candidates rode this year's wave of anti-incumbent fever to knock Bennett out of the primary race, Lee has been embraced by the Tea Party Express and the Senate Conservatives Fund. Bridgewater has tried to use the support of the Conservative Fund, headed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, against Lee by trying to cast it as an outsider meddling in Utah politics.

A Web site said to be set up by Bridgewater supporters, The Jim DeMint Takeover, asks, "What is Jim DeMint up to? Why would he have an interest in a U.S. Senate candidate from Utah? Is Jim DeMint trying to play kingmaker in so many Republican primary races because he is gunning for Senate leadership?"

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