SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Orrin Hatch's Democratic opponent says the 78 year old U.S. Senator is too old to be reelected.
In a blunt fundraising letter sent out Sunday, Democrat Scott Howell repeatedly attacks the senator's age.
Howell begins his fundraising email,
"I’m going to be frank."
Howell continues,
"Orrin Hatch is not a bad guy. But he is an old guy."
Campaigning in Southern Utah, Howell not only didn't back down from this statement, he doubled down on it.
He told ABC 4 News,
“Orrin Hatch is old enough to be my father and I don't want my father running the United States Senate Finance Committee."
But the most explosive part of Howell's fundraising letter may be when he says that Hatch could,
"die before his term is through."
Over the phone, Howell was equally as blunt,
“Orrin Hatch needs the golden handshake now. It's time we give him a nice watch and we send him on his way."
Senator Hatch's campaign manager Dave Hansen called Howell’s fundraising letter, “offensive.”
Hansen says Howell's age attacks are simply a misguided attempt to get attention,
"He's [Howell] got a campaign that's going nowhere. Nobody knows who he is."
What's more, Hansen suggests, Howell might want to be careful about saying people are too old to serve…especially in Utah.
Hansen: "There's an organization here in this state, headquartered in this state, that has some people who are not exactly youth who are doing a magnificent job of running this organization.”
ABC 4: “And that is?”
Hansen: “The LDS Church."
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