WASHINGTON, June 27 (UPI) -- FreedomWorks advocacy group activists Monday demanded the Senate Republican campaign arm steer clear of Utah Republican Orrin Hatch's Senate re-election bid.
About 40 conservative activists, mainly from Utah, spilled out of the FreedomWorks office near the Capitol to march to the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters to tell the political panel its dollars could be better spent elsewhere, Roll Call reported.
"I'm looking for candidates who are intellectually honest," Darcy Van Orden, an activist from Salt Lake City, told Roll Call. "We will retire him [Hatch] with dignity. I'll throw him a party myself."
Activists stood in the NRSC lobby chanting, "Orrin Hatch has got to go! People choose senators, not committees," Roll Call reported. After demanding a meeting, two activists were allowed to go up to the committee headquarters.
FreedomWorks, led by former House Speaker Dick Armey, R-Texas, has made defeating Hatch a top priority. The group said the six-term incumbent frequently sided with Democrats, and found his votes for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and to raise the debt ceiling troubling.
The race is one of 15 2012 Senate contests the group said it has targeted.
Dave Hansen, Hatch campaign manager, told Roll Call the march seemed like "nothing more than a carefully orchestrated attempt by an out-of-state interest group trying to gather attention for their cause."
