“I consider myself a Tea Party type candidate,” Liljenquist said. “Look, whether you affiliate yourself with the Tea Party or not, it’s debt and spending that matters, and that’s what I think the Tea Party movement coalesces around, it’s debt and spending.”
Dan Liljenquist and Orrin Hatch
Longtime Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch usually breezes through election challenges, but this time around the Tea Party has the Republican lawmaker in its sights.
Could his almost 40-year tenure be in jeopardy?
So far, Sen. Hatch has watched the Tea Party shake up Washington from the sidelines. That has included defeats of good friends and Senate veterans Richard Lugar of Indiana and Utah’s own Bob Bennett.
Now Hatch is facing his own primary battle against Dan Liljenquist.
“My main beef with Sen. Hatch and a whole generation of politicians back there in Washington is they’ve spent the last 40 years centralizing power, increasing the size and scope of government, getting us into uncontrollable debt that we can’t handle, and expanding entitlement programs that really, a whole new generation of Americans are going to have to clean up,” Liljenquist said.
Unlike other Tea Party targets, Hatch doesn’t wear the typical moderate label. His fights in support of conservative Supreme Court nominees are legendary.
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