The future continues to look cloudy for Republican Sen. Chris Buttars as he heads into tomorrow's GOP state convention. When invitations went out this week for a GOP "Meet the Candidates" night in Riverton, he was snubbed.

Gary Armstrong, one of three Republican challengers told delegates:

There isn't a single time this session I could have raised my hand and said, 'I'm proud that's my senator.' We need a senator who can represent us with dignity as he fights the good fight.

Buttars' downward slide began in the last legislative session with his description of a bill as, "This baby is black, I'll tell you. It's a dark, ugly thing," which many, including the NAACP, found racist.

Then, he got himself booted as chairman of the judicial confirmation committee when it was made public that he had chastised a judge who had ruled against a Buttars' crony.

His biggest problem is not that he has made offensive comments to minorities and gays, but that he dragged other Republicans into his political quagmire — including Senate President John Valentine, who has ambitions of being governor.

But I wouldn't count Buttars out. He has the unwavering support of Gayle Ruzicka and the Eagle Forum. And Buttars has 10 times the war chest of his opponents combined. Money to burn, as you can judge from a campaign spending analysis in DNews:

[Buttars] had some of the most interesting spending. That included $7,757 for ads in the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune that apparently did not actually appear. They were to explain his comments at the Legislature, but Buttars pulled them at the last minute — so late that he still had to pay for them.

Finally, Buttars can always make an offering at the shrine of the Republican saint of comebacks: Tricky Dick.