In what could ultimately be a troubling sign for the prospects of presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, the New York Times reports that 6-term conservative Utah Congressman lost a Republican primary Tuesday to a candidate that challenged him from the right.  Rep. Chris Cannon had a 96 rating from the American Conservative Union and the endorsement of President Bush, which should have been enough to carry what is one of the most conservative districts in the nation.

But the voters in the district which covers Salt Lake City's suburbs opted instead for a former BYU football player who hammered Cannon for being weak on immigration and other issues.  McCain's lifetime rating from the ACU was an 82 as of 2007.  That places him solidly to the right of the average Senator, but maybe not far enough right for voters like those in Utah and similar blocks of voters in places like the Metro Atlanta suburbs, Virginia Beach or the Republican outposts of Northern Virginia. 

Voters in those areas delivered massive margins to George W. Bush in 2004, which helped to put Georgia solidly in the Republican column and move Virginia from a potential tossup to a fairly comfortable win.  Former Congressman Bob Barr once had the solid conservative credentials to appeal to these voters, but he has moderated many of his stances since leaving Congress and is now more in the mold of a traditional libertarian.  Ultimately though, some of these voters could end up deciding on Barr not because of his policies but due to dissatisfaction with the Republicans for what they perceive as the GOP diluting its conservative brand over the last few years, and McCain has long been the poster boy for that movement among the far right.