Hatch fell short of the 60 percent threshold needed to avoid a face-off with Liljenquist. Hatch falls short

SANDY, Utah — Sen. Orrin Hatch failed to clinch his party’s nomination at the state GOP convention Saturday, ensuring a June primary against state Sen. Dan Liljenquist.

The six-term Republican incumbent fell just short of the 60 percent threshold necessary to skirt a June 26 face-off. On the second ballot, Hatch notched 59 percent of the vote to Liljenquist’s 41 percent.


While Hatch avoided the fate of former Sen. Bob Bennett — who was denied the renomination in dramatic fashion at this convention two years ago — he now enters a two-month campaign that he would have liked to avoid. In the end, Hatch fell short by fewer than 50 votes from avoiding a fight into the summer.

Surrounded by disappointed supporters in his campaign suite after the vote, Hatch attempted to put the best face on the outcome, saying he didn’t even expect to reach the 60 percent bar.

“A lot of people were predicting my demise here. Just a couple months ago, people didn’t give me much of a chance. I think I’ve proven I’m a tough old bird and I’m not an easy one,” he said, going on to predict a primary win in June.

( Also on POLITICO: What Orrin Hatch's primary means)

In an adjoining suite, a perspiring and jubilant Liljenquist acknowledged he wasn’t sure he had the delegate support to force a primary fight.

“You know, it really didn’t matter. We did everything we could do. We had 108 different events. We went all over the state and almost no sleep and I’m still on my feet. But one by one, we changed people. And even this morning, as I came around our booth, that may have just made the difference,” he said. “We’re outspent 30-to-1 in this race already, but that doesn’t scare us. Because at the end of the day, the people of this state deserve a choice.”

Hatch made his relationship with Mitt Romney and the opportunity to serve as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee the two central tenets of his campaign, a theme he reiterated in his convention speech.

“We’re going to lead with a Republican majority. And we’re going to work hand-in-hand with President Mitt Romney,” he said. “I’m going to be chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Believe me when I say that a strong and experienced chairman can make all the difference in the world.”

But that wasn’t enough to ward off Liljenquist, who delivered a powerful convention speech and scored the endorsements of the majority of the other candidates after they were eliminated in the first round of voting.

“Regardless of who the chairman is, it still takes 60 votes to get anything passed in the Senate. No senator is king no matter what seat they sit in,” Liljenquist said in his convention speech. “There is a youth movement in the Senate and it is happening right now. These are the new generation of leaders we desperately need, and I want to be there with them.”

On the first ballot, Hatch achieved 57 percent of the vote to Liljenquist’s 28 percent. But when Liljenquist appeared back on the convention stage to make a final appeal to the about 3,900 delegates in attendance, five of his former rivals stood behind him — a symbolic gesture meant to signal their support.

Two separate polls released over the last week showed Hatch reaching just beyond the 60 percent mark and many Utah GOP operatives believed the senator’s superior organization would permit him to forgo a primary.

But now Hatch is forced into his first primary fight since his first Senate campaign in 1976.

With a bigger war chest and more name identification, Hatch begins the contest a strong front-runner, but Liljenquist promised a spirited respectful campaign, one that would mirror the effort Hatch waged back in 1976 when he was first elected.

And while both candidates have lamented the influence of outside groups, the convention outcome is likely to prove an incentive to dive back into the race.

The lead organizer for FreedomWorks’ effort here said the Beltway-based group would now redouble its efforts here to “get Liljenquist across the finish line.”

“We know Dan, Dan’s our guy. It’s about telling the Utah voter about Dan,” said Russ Walker, FreedomWorks’ national political director. “We’ll talk to our friends and we’ll see if they’re interested in coming in. We’re in.”