A few weeks ago longtime Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch fell just short of securing the Republican nomination for a seventh term at the state’s GOP convention. As a result, Hatch faces a primary challenge from State Sen. Dan Liljenquist, who is embracing the Tea Party in his hopes of scoring an upset victory. Liljenquist says over the past 36 years Sen. Hatch has contributed much more to the nation’s debt than working to reduce it. He also doesn’t think Hatch’s increasingly conservative positions are genuine but rather a politically expedient move to save his own job after watching fellow Sen. Robert Bennett booted out of office in 2010. Entitlement reform is also high on the Liljenquist agenda. In the Utah legislature, he has led successful efforts on pension reform and Medicaid reform. He tells us why he believes that track record can succeed at the federal level as well and adds that reforming Medicare and Social Security is no longer a choice but a necessity. And Liljenquist renews his challenge to debate Hatch several times before the June 26 primary.
