Surprise! Orrin Hatch to run again

The editorial board met with Orrin Hatch’s press secretary earlier this week. I asked him questions about whether Utah’s senior senator is worried about suffering a similar fate as Bob Bennett should he run for re-election in 2012.

He assured me Hatch was working hard to avoid that, but that he felt there were many reasons why he would be sent back to Washington yet again. Chief among these is his senior position on the Senate Finance Committee. If Republicans win the Senate in 2012, Hatch would become that committee’s chairman, which is a powerful post.
But Bennett had seniority on important committees, as well, including banking and appropriations. That argument didn’t fly with convention delegates.
Hatch announced his intention to run for re-election this week. A lot can happen in two years. The tea party may run out of steam. The economy could turn around. Hatch, who has veered sharply to the right recently by renouncing the DREAM Act he once conceived and sponsored and by proposing a balanced budget amendment again, may establish his conservative credentials to the satisfaction of the delegates.
You’ll notice he no longer talks about his Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment, which would remove the requirement that you must be born in the United States in order to become president. He proposed that one to help out his pal, Arnold Schwarzenegger, but with all the Obama “birthers” out there, that may no longer be such a great political idea.
But rumors are swirling that he’ll have some tough competition for the nomination. If he wins, he would be 84-years-old at the end of his term and would have served 42 years.
This will be interesting.