GOP caucus turnout more than 125,000 people


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Updated: 3/16/2012 9:53 am | Published: 3/16/2012 9:47 am
Republican GOP caucus (Wade Francom, ABC 4 News)
Republican GOP caucus (Wade Francom, ABC 4 News)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah Republicans are reporting record turnout for their neighborhood caucuses.

State Party Chairman Thomas Wright says early attendance estimates for the Thursday night caucuses are between 125,000 and 200,000 people.

Wright says the party was aiming for at least 100,000 people to attend the meetings. In 2010, about 58,000 people went to the meetings.

The state party spent $300,000 promoting this year's meetings. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has also urged their members to attend the caucuses.

U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch's attempt to win a seventh term in office has generated the most attention among party faithful, as former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist and state Rep. Chris Herrod aim to unseat Hatch.

Utah Democrats have also reported record turnout during meetings they held Tuesday.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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Dealwithyour - 3/18/2012 12:51 AM
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It was good to see the real GOP show up last night and throw the Tea Party out on their rear.

jennifer - 3/16/2012 5:08 PM
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OK did this happen at your caucus last night? So far I know of three different cases in our area. STATE delegates were nominated, and the voting began. Half way through the vote after a few people had been eliminated, a Hatch supporter moved to reopen the nominating process. The women in charge of our caucus said "No, that would give your nominee an unfair advantage. These people up for voting now have had a one in eight chance of becoming a delegate. Now we have dropped the bottom three, your nominee would stand a one in 6 chance of becoming the delegate. That would not be fair." There was discussion and confusion. Then the Hatch supporter referred to some ambiguity in the by-laws and said she should be allowed to do this. The women running the meeting told her no. The women running that caucus has been in her current position at least 20 years and has never seen this happen before. In the two other caucus that I heard about this happening, the chair allowed it, and additional delegates were added to the pool after others had already been eliminated. I would love to know if this was wide spread last night or just a tactic that was used locally. I feel like the integrity of the process was compromised. :( I posted this to my facebook page and have had people say it happened in Lehi as well as Alpine.
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