Moneyballing the Utah Senate Primary: Liljenquist Won by a Mile

Well, it's officially over. In this David and Goliath rematch, Goliath won. 

Sigh. 

Now for a little recap.

In the movie “Moneyball,” a minor character points out that his team had a much higher “cost per win” than the main character’s team did and he wanted to know the secret to keeping costs down.  Why? Because it could save his team a lot of money.

What was the secret? Hire the most productive players, not the most famous (and costly).

So, now that it’s over we can “Moneyball” the U.S. Senate Primary here in Utah. Only instead of “cost per win” we can look at “cost per vote.”

	Spent	Votes	Cost per Vote
Hatch	$10,000,000	146,394	$68.31
Liljenquist	$750,000	73,668	$10.18

Liljenquist spent a fraction “per vote”—680% less!  How did he get so many people to vote for him with so little money?  The answer: message.  The message mattered more than the money.  That’s the good news—the very good news. 74,000 people got the message!

The bad news is that without money, the primary obstacle becomes time.  How does a high-quality, principled, poor candidate like Lincoln compete for a national office without the money?  The answer is obvious—grass roots.  The problem (for us today) is that in Lincoln’s era there was not as much grass to cover so it could be covered in a short amount of time. Where would we be today without “poor” Abraham Lincoln?

I truly believe that a lot (a lot) of people who took the time do some homework and learn the truth about voting records and issues voted for Dan.  Just a little more time and a lot more people would have had the chance to learn that Dan was truly the better person for this job.

Sadly, those who chose not to dig deeper simply allowed themselves to be bought by Hatch’s campaign contributors and his “aura.”  Voting records and liberal attitudes be damned. Sad, but true—Utahn’s have just proved that they could be bought (because they were—at $68 a head).

This election has opened my eyes to something that is often bandied about in the media—“campaign finance reform.”  First truth...Hatch did not buy this election—insurance companies, healthcare companies, lawyers, hospitals, and lobbyists nationwide bought it for him.  Second truth...Hatch does not work for Utahn’s—he works for them.

And that is why Hatch hid—hid from his intelligent, capable, well-informed opponent and hid from average Utahns. He hid behind all that money.  Glenn Beck recently wrote a book called “Cowards.” I have not read it (yet), but I am beginning to understand where he is probably going with the idea.

There are so many things wrong today with modern politics. It is sad to see this country descend the way it has over the past several decades.  I guess those of us who see this will just have to keep fighting back in our own small ways (at a mere $10 a head).  We will fight on with the faith that someday, somehow, we will take back this country from irresponsible “it's not my fault” politicians like Senator Hatch (and all the companies that have bought him).  It will be a long, hard fight, but it is winnable one—I truly believe that.

In my view there is one small consolation—a lot of new, young men and women in other states did succeed in ousting their RINOs.  They will start changing things in a Senate where every vote counts.  These Senators will have the numbers to overrule and silence Hatch.  God bless every one of them!

Finally—Congratulations Dan on a great campaign.  In many ways—the most important ways—you won…by a mile! It was a pleasure and an honor to support you. Thank you for trying.