One of the worst mistakes Utah Republicans have made in my memory was with Bob Bennett â not in electing him to the U.S. Senate in 1992 but by dumping him at the state GOP convention 18 years later. Bennett and former Gov. Olene Walker may be the best arguments against the caucus-convention nominating system, which the Utah Republican Party is so desperately trying to preserve. Bennett died Wednesday of pancreatic cancer and the effects of a stroke.