Long after candidates in other races had called it a night, Republican Scott Burns and Democrat Jan Graham were still waiting for conclusive results in the race for attorney general.
Graham was declared the winner about 4:30 a.m., beating Burns by more than 6,000 votes. Burns lead at several points throughout the race and won in most of the state's rural counties.Reached at home about 4 a.m., Graham said it would take a little time for her victory to sink in. "I'm pretty tired to be real honest," she said after being awakened by a telephone call. "It's been a long night."
Burns, the Iron County attorney, stopped taking telephone calls in his Salt Lake hotel suite before the final results were in. Earlier in the evening, he declined to talk about the race until all the votes were counted.
"We're getting tired here, but we're excited and just looking at the numbers," Burns said. "I don't see any reason to comment until the numbers are in."
Burns spent Election Night sequestered with family and friends in his suite at the Little America hotel while most GOP candidates mingled downstairs with supporters and the media.
Graham divided her time among her hospitality suite at the Red Lion Hotel, media interviews along with other Democratic candidates gathered in the hotel ballroom, and a private room upstairs before heading home about 2 a.m.
She said she overcame the difficulties Democrats face winning in a state where they are outnumbered 2-to-1. "We started early and worked hard, and we were able to raise money. That's what it took," she said.
Graham spent some $200,000 on her race, about half of it to beat former 3rd District Judge Scott Daniels in a heated Democratic primary. Burns had less than half as much money, nearly all of it raised after his primary.
The two candidates clashed during the campaign over who was better qualified to succeed Democrat Paul Van Dam as attorney general. Van Dam endorsed Graham before the primary.
Graham cited her legal experience, including serving as a partner in the law firm of Jones, Waldo, Holbrook & McDonough before being named the state solicitor general by Van Dam.
Burns stressed his six years as the elected Iron County attorney, during which he handled some 2,000 cases, as well as his support from the state's law-enforcement community.
The other candidate in the attorney general's race, Libertarian Michael Coombs, won fewer than 18,000 votes statewide.
State Treasurer Ed Alter, a Republican, once again fought off a challenge by Salt Lake County Treasurer Art Monson, a Democrat. Alter won a fourth term with 49 percent of the vote to Monson's 44 percent. Jeffrey Ostler, the Independent American Party candidate who favors replacing paper money with gold and silver coins, received 7 percent of the vote.
State Auditor Tom Allen, a Republican, was elected to a third term over Democrat Harold Black. Black, an analyst in the state Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, received 37 percent of the vote to Allen's 63 percent.