Utah Nominating Convention Day 2010 - UPDATED

Keep your eyes on this space, gentle readers... we'll be doing updates throughout the day
Beltway Bob goes into political retirement... after a decissive 2d round convention vote

It's Convention Day, Weber County Forum political wonks. Of course most of the media attention is on the Utah GOP Convention, where Senator for Life Bob Bennett will be fighting this morning for his political survival. The Standard-Examiner kicks off the day with two topical stories on the front page this morning:

• Bennett touts conservative record in final debate
• Delegates wade past 'interference' at conventions

Will Bob Bennett escape today's convention with his political scalp intact? Find out via the live streaming video below, courtesy of the Utah GOP website:

_____
Update 5/9/10 12:55 p.m.: Sorry folks... the live video stream has expired, so we're replacing the previously embedded video player with Josh Loftin's live blogging record instead:

• Live Blog: Utah GOP Convention

The live video was pretty cool while it lasted, but we believe the above link will adequately provide late comers "the drift."
_____

We'll also be scouting around for something similar from the Democratic Convention this morning. So far however, after a considerable amount of googling, we've pretty much struck out. Still, desperate Democrats who crave real-time convention information might want to try the Utah State Party's and the Weber County Democratic Party's Twitter Feeds in a pinch:

• Utah Democrats - Twitter
• Weber County Democrats - Twitter

If anyone within our WCF readership has any good links to online Utah Democratic Party convention activities, btw, we of course urge you to submit them.

Keep your eyes on this space, gentle readers. We'll also be updating this page and entering timely Twitter comments throughout the day.

Update 5/8/10 12:31 p.m.: While we're taking a little breather during the Utah GOP Convention vote counting, be sure to check out the great flurry of Twitter tweets which have poured out into the tweetosphere today:

• Utah Gop-Convention-2010 - Rudi's Collected Twitter Tweets

Lots of interesting between-the-lines observations there.

DANG! With the laughably poor audio on our Live Streaming Convention Video Player, we shoulda put this up hours ago! Twitter definitely has its uses when news is breaking fast.

Be sure to check out that last Twitter link directly above.

Update 5/8/10 1:56 p.m.: Wow! The results of the FIRST GOP Convention Vote Count are now available:

• Utah GOP Senate Race: 1st Round Results

Looks like Beltway Bob may be screwed. But then again maybe not. As this astute observer notes, it all depends upon how Cherilyn Eager supporters shake out:

• Bennett Survives First Ballot at Utah GOP Convention

Now onto the second voting round.

Fun, innit?

Update 5/8/10 3:32 p.m: Here are the final numbers from the SECOND GOP Convention voting round, per Josh Loflin's latest Twitter tweet:

Tim Bridgewater : 37%
Mike Lee: 36%
Beltway Bob: 27%

Assuming this early report is accurate, Bennett is OUT!

Update 5/9/10 1:08 p.m.: The Utah GOP website now has final tallies in all contested GOP convention races posted online:

• 2010 Decisions: Final Vote Counts