The STAR Forum Makes The New York Times

Mormon Politicians From Utah Feel Tea Party Heat

By KIRK JOHNSON

Published: March 14, 2011

COALVILLE, Utah — Jacqueline Smith fits no one’s stereotype of a political kingmaker. A home-schooling Mormon mother of five, Ms. Smith lives in a modest ranch-style house here in the mountains outside Salt Lake City with her husband, Cleve, a plumbing contractor.

Djamila Grossman for The New York Times

Jacqueline Smith, in her Coalville, Utah, home on March 1, doubts Senator Orrin G. Hatch.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Senator Hatch, shown Wednesday in Washington, is trying to win over Tea Party supporters.

But in the muscular arena of Tea Party and so-called Sept. 12 groups that have surged into dominance in Utah over the last year, places like Coalville and the Smith house have become unlikely stations for politicians to come kiss the ring.

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 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/us/politics/15utah.html?_r=1&emc=eta1