Hatch Faces Obstacle Despite Reaching out to Base

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — With a challenge from within his own party in the offing, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch is taking aggressive steps to make sure the same conservative activists who ousted then-Sen. Robert Bennett don't do the same to him.

His campaign has offered jobs to tea party activists. He has also repeatedly reached out to some of the national groups that were instrumental in laying the groundwork for Bennett's defeat.

Whether these efforts pay off will go a long way in determining whether he is re-elected in perhaps the most Republican state in the nation. At this stage, it's clear that some of the same forces that swept Bennett out of power in Utah would like to do the same to Hatch.

Hatch says he's still confident he'll win over skeptics.