Beat the Devil? Not in Utah.

The White House hailed Utah GOP Rep. Chris Cannon 's solid primary victory Tuesday over neophyte challenger John Jacob -- a businessman who waged a single-issue, stridently anti-immigration campaign -- as a huge boost for President Bush 's immigration proposals.

Most political analysts agreed, adding that the five-term incumbent's win by 56 percent to 44 percent owed much to Bush's strong support -- and especially to Laura Bush 's help.

But there may have been other, unseen, forces working against the challenger, as Jacob suggested in the last week of the campaign.

"There's another force that wants to keep us from going to Washington, D.C.," he told the Salt Lake Tribune. "It's the devil is what it is. I don't want you to print that, but it feels like that's what it is." Asked if he actually believed his campaign difficulties were the work of the devil, Jacob said: "I don't know who else it would be if it wasn't him. Now, when that gets out in the paper, I'm going to be one of the screw-loose people."

Conservative consultant Chris Muth , who notes the race was deadlocked before Jacob's remark about Satan , wrote in his blog that "even the most devout [Mormons] must be . . . wondering if Jacob might be a few fries short of a Happy Meal," the Deseret News reported.

But University of Utah political scientist Matthew Burbank told the Tribune that Jacob's statements were unlikely to be a significant factor for Utah's conservative Republican voters.

And while Jacob's acute observations promptly earned him a strong Loop endorsement, let's be clear: There is absolutely no evidence that Satan actually worked the district for Cannon, whose next opponent is Democrat Christian Burridge . In fact, most analysts believe Satan's usually been here, working the Hill, honing the details of the next round of congressional earmarks.

The Ties That Bind the Tongue

President Bush , at his news conference yesterday with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi , noted, as he almost always does, "that it was not always a given that the United States and America [sic] would have a close relationship. After all, 60 years we were at war -- 60 years ago we were at war, and today we talked about North Korea, and Iran, and Iraq, and trade, and energy cooperation." Bush waxed on about how "It's amazing fact that we're able to have these discussions. To me it shows the power of liberty and democracy to transform enemies to allies and to help transform the world."

Did he ever talk about WWII when Italy's Silvio Berlusconi came to town? Will he mention it to German Chancellor Angela Merkel when they meet soon?

Meanwhile, Bush came out swinging Wednesday in urging global free trade. "We shouldn't fear global competition," he said. "We shouldn't fear a world that is more interacted."

Long as they acted right.

Defendant Pleads TongsunPark.Com

Used to be when folks had legal troubles, they'd hire a lawyer and then a P.R. firm.