Sen. Bennett sinks to third place in poll

Another poll shows Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) may have trouble making the final ballot at the state party convention.

Three days after a Deseret News poll of convention delegates showed Bennett in second place, a Salt Lake Tribune poll now has Bennett in third. Attorney Mike Lee leads with 37 percent, congressional candidate Tim Bridgewater is second at 20 percent, and Bennett is third at 16 percent.

Utah features an unusual nominating process in which a multi-ballot convention process whittles the race down to two candidates. If, at any point, a candidate gets 60 percent of the vote, he or she wins the nomination outright.

At this point, it appears Bennett will have to fight just to make the final pairing and then hope his opponent can't consolidate all of the anti-Bennett vote. In that case, the two of them would be headed for a two-person primary.

The Utah GOP convention is on May 8, with the possible primary on June 22.