Fifth-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon was forced into a primary Saturday with Eagle Mountain businessman John Jacob, one of two men who challenged him for the Republican nomination for Utah's 3rd Congressional District.

The third candidate, former congressman Merrill Cook, was eliminated in the first round of balloting at the state GOP convention in Sandy.

In the second round, Jacob outpolled Cannon 52 percent to 48 percent. A candidate needs at least 60 percent of the votes of delegates at the convention to secure the nomination.

A primary election on June 27 will decide who will represent the party in November's elections.

It was the biggest upset Saturday at the Utah Republican convention, where 3,136 delegates advanced Sen. Orrin Hatch for a sixth term, selected a challenger for U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson -- Utah's lone Democrat in Congress -- and nominated U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop by acclamation for northern Utah's District 1.

The Utah Democratic Party nominated Pete Ashdown, the 39-year-old president of Internet service provider XMission, to challenge Hatch for the November election.

Hatch got the nod from 78 percent of Republican delegates, easily beating three intraparty challengers. State lawmaker Lavar Christensen pulled 84 percent of the nominating vote for Utah's 2nd Congressional district, and now sets his sights on U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, the Democrat who currently holds the seat.

Cannon shrugged off his narrow No. 2 finish for the 3rd District.

"I think I've had more primaries than I've had conventions without primaries, so I'm not surprised," said Cannon, who acknowledged that the electorate is restive.

"We've got a lot of people who are very unhappy in Utah," Cannon said. "That turns into sending a message to the incumbent, which I understand.

"People don't like high gas prices. They're concerned about the war in Iraq. They're concerned about government spending. They're concerned about our energy policies generally. There's a lot of concern out in America, and they'd like to see a change."

But he said that wasn't the only factor at work.

"We had a whole bunch of people that didn't show up because, frankly, I don't think they took my opponents very seriously," Cannon said. "That support just didn't show up today."

Jacob said he wasn't surprised.

"We had a lot of people that when they got done with a meeting with me, that went out and said, 'I'm extremely impressed.' They talked to other delegates," he said. "We started at the bottom. We didn't start with the people who are the leaders in the party, because they will support an incumbent.

"There's just a lot of differences between what he's doing and what I feel like needs to be done. And it shows, today, to get 52 percent."

Jacob said he'd planned to drop out of the race if he didn't receive at least 45 percent of the convention vote.

"It's going to be a tough fight," he said of the upcoming primary race. "With that 52 percent, I think we can take that to Congress."

Hatch's lopsided convention vote was grist for a joke from keynote speaker Arizona Sen. John McCain.

"I know in Orrin's case it will be another cliffhanger," McCain said.

For the race against Bishop, a second-term Republican, Utah Democrats picked Steve Olsen, 49, of Plain City, an engineer for automobile air bag maker Autoliv Inc. in Ogden. Olsen is a former Republican who wrote an 18-page booklet last year titled, 'Why most Utahns are Democrats but just don't know it."

For Cannon's District 3, Democrats nominated lawyer Christian Burridge, 30, of South Jordan.

In races for the state Legislature, Utah Republicans forced Sen. Dave Thomas, R-South Weber, into a primary against Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner.

Greiner got 49 percent of the convention vote to Thomas's 51 percent.

Rep. David Ure, R-Kamas, making a bid for Senate District 26 being vacated by Sen. Beverly Evans, will face Kevin Van Tassell in a GOP primary. District 26 covers Daggett, Duchesne, Summit, Uintah and Wasatch counties.

Earlier in the day McCain traveled from Lynchburg, Va., where he spoke to graduates at Liberty University, a school founded by McCain's old political nemesis, the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

"We've put our differences behind us," said McCain, who labeled Falwell and others "agents of intolerance" in 2000 when Falwell threw his support to President Bush over McCain.

McCain, speaking Saturday like a candidate for the 2008 presidential race, told Utah Republicans that spending in Congress was "out of control and we have to stop it."

He said the nation urgently needed to resolve the status of millions of undocumented workers and called for more enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border and a guest worker program.

"I know the American people are frustrated by Iraq," said McCain, who was a war prisoner in Vietnam. "I know it's been difficult. We have made mistakes. We make mistakes in every war. That's one reason we avoid wars. War is a terrible thing."

At the outset of the war, McCain said at a post-convention news conference, he "complained bitterly that we didn't have enough troops" in Iraq,. But he said the United States has no choice now but to stay in Iraq, defeat the insurgents, set up a stable government and restore Iraq's economy and oil industry.

He credited the GOP's hold on the presidency and Congress for the current U.S. economy, and said Republican control of those branches is important: "We have to keep it that way," he said.

But he also said the federal government is spending too much money and is larding federal budgets with wasteful spending.

He characterized the war in Iraq as part of the fight against terrorists like Osama bin Laden. "War is a terrible thing," McCain said. "But I want to tell you -- we must win in Iraq. If we lose in Iraq, they'll be coming after us. We'll be fighting them somewhere else, like here."

At the Republican convention, the most contentious vote of the day wasn't about candidates. It involved a proposed change to the state Republican Party constitution.

The new wording said that county parties weren't required to allocate all delegate positions to precinct caucuses, although they can do so. Proponents said the change would clarify existing practice and specify that the county parties are in control of how delegates are allocated.

Opponents vilified the amendment, however, contending that the wording would shift control over the delegate selection process away from individual precincts in favor of county Republican leadership. The measure failed 59 percent to 41 percent.

Alan Choate is a reporter for the Daily Herald. Paul Foy writes for the Associated Press.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.