Bennett's opponents use same tactics he used to get into office

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SALT LAKE CITY -- The ouster of Sen. Bob Bennett marks a political watershed -- the first time in seven decades a sitting U.S. senator from Utah failed to win his party's nomination.

His race this year echoes the hotly contested fight he won to take the seat. That race was in 1992.

Politics shouldn't be a career. You should get in and make your contribution and get out.

–1992 Bennett campaign ad

We've found some old ads in which candidate Bob Bennett successfully used the kind of anti-Washington rhetoric his opponents used against him this year.

At a Tea Party protest in March, Republican candidates for U.S. Senate called for a change, saying it's time to change senators.

"Well, I think he's been in Washington too long," said Tim Bridgewater, one of the candidates vying for Bennett's seat. "He's been there for nearly 20 years."

Opponent Mike Lee said, "Utahns are ready for new leadership, and I'm offering my services."

Fellow candidate Cherilyn Eagar echoed that sentiment. "I think 12 years is long enough. If you can't get it done in 12 years, you ought to pass the baton along to someone else," she said.

That language harkens back to 1992, when a Bennett campaign ad said, "Politics shouldn't be a career. You should get in and make your contribution and get out."

Then-three-term Sen. Jake Garn announced he wouldn't run again.

"I know Washington well enough to realize things can change if a scrappy senator will grab hold and never, never let go," Bennett said in another campaign ad. "We've all heard the old line ‘If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' Well, Washington is definitely broken and it needs fixing."

Bennett, then a businessman, found traction in the push for terms limits and the idea Washington bureaucrats had taken over.

"Sure, I've been told that if I don't go with the flow in Washington, I'll never make it past my first term. Well, what's wrong with serving only one term if you get something done," Bennett said in another ad.

Monday, Bennett said once elected, he did get things done in Washington.

"Sen. Bennett is someone who did his homework, who understood the issues, who worked hard to resolve the issues," he said. "That's a legacy I'll be happy with."

That legacy, he says, includes federal funding for things like TRAX.

"Maybe now that that infrastructure is in place, we don't need a senator on the appropriations committee anymore. We'll see," he said.

As for questions about his future and whether he might rejoin the race as a write-in, Bennett says he wants to let the dust settle and won't make any decisions for a while.

E-mail: jdaley@ksl.com