THE HEAT IS OFF

Utah’s 2nd Congressional Race Fizzles, But Republican LaVar Christensen is Still Swinging

By Tracy Medley, 10-08-06

Utah’s 2nd Congressional district race between incumbent Jim Matheson and Republican foe, LaVar Christensen isn’t so much heating up as crapping out. Matheson’s longtime stronghold on the district is proving formidable against both Christensen’s glossy television commercials and claims of “moral” superiority.

Christensen, who’s getting no love (read: cash) from the National Republican Congressional Committee, has spent over $600,000 of his own money on his campaign so far. The NRCC has bigger concerns with the Foley scandal causing major consternation in the party; their main priority is holding onto the seats they’ve already got and according to some experts spending money on Christensen’s campaign would be a waste of NRCC resources. Kirk Jowers, the director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah recently told The Salt Lake Tribune that the national party’s lack of financial support “is one of the big signs that they don’t consider it a competitive race.”

Competitive race or not Christensen has come out swinging and much like Matheson’s previous opponent John Swallow, he’s swinging from the moralistic mud pit. According to Christensen’s website and current radio ad, America is in serious “moral” peril should Democrats take the House in November. “It will mean increased dependence on foreign oil, rising gas prices and falling moral standards.”

Okay, the Democrats would increase dependence on foreign oil? Christensen claims this would be the case because Democrats would be unwilling to tap into Utah’s natural oil resources, choosing rather to protect our landscape. What Christensen does not consider is that Democrats could actually decrease foreign oil dependency by demanding higher fuel efficiency standards and putting more money into the research and implementation of alternative energy sources.

While Christensen’s claims about Democrats and foreign oil are perplexing, his assertion of a “national Democratic moral agenda” and “falling moral standards” are far more troubling.

“If you think America is going in the right direction morally, you will love the Democrats,” Christensen reiterated in a recent Deseret Morning News article by Bob Bernick Jr. But, if as Christensen indicates, moral standards are currently “falling,” wouldn’t the ruling party of all three braches of government for the past 6 years carry at least some of the blame? I’m just saying.

Of course Christensen is speaking specifically about abortion and same-sex marriage, because for some Republicans these are the only two “moral” issues that exist (or at least the only two that ensure votes from their base). Christensen himself drafted Utah’s current ban on same-sex marriage, which had no trouble passing in the state legislature in 2004.

“Democrats are the ones who embrace abortion and same-sex marriage,” he told Bernick in the D-News. What’s more he proceeded to call out Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts who is openly gay. Contending that while Massachusetts has chosen to accept Frank and “what he does,” Utah has different “standard[s].”

Matheson, in typical Nice-Guy-Eddie fashion dismissed Christensen’s criticisms of him and the Democratic party as a whole, encouraging voters to look at the facts and at his record.

With five more weeks until Election Day, it’s difficult to predict the outcome, even with polls heavily weighted in Matheson’s favor. Utah is unpredictable and often brutal territory for Democratic candidates; even beloved incumbents who register somewhere close to purple on the ideological color-scale. That said, if Christensen hopes to stand a chance, he might reconsider his current strategy of pointing out the beam in his Democratic brother’s eye.

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