To be a Democrat in Utah you gotta have faith that things will get better. But for Democrats in the Utah House, things just got a whole lot worse.
Not only did the minority Democrats lose six seats in a worse-than-expected showing in Tuesday's election, but they no longer have the numbers to even mildly annoy the Republican majority."It was a landslide," sighed House Minority Whip Kelly Atkinson. "Those were all Republicans going out to vote. It's like they were performing surgery with a sledgehammer."
Atkinson said Utah voters, like those around the nation, were caught up in an anti-Bill Clinton fervor that swept Democratic incumbents, both good and bad, out of office.
The Republican incumbents? They all won.
Democrats started Tuesday with 26 members in the 75-member House - the minimum number needed to block parliamentary tactics requiring a two-thirds vote. After the ballots had been counted, there were 20 Democrats left in the House.
Gone is long-time Rep. Arlo James, D-Kearns, who angered many of his constituents with repeated statements some interpreted as racist. Gone is first-term Rep. Sara Eubank, D-Salt Lake, whose political career never completely recovered from a court suit, later dismissed, in which a former employee accused Eubank of firing her days after she was raped.
Gone is veteran Rep. Allan Rushton, D-West Valley, one of the "young turks" elected in a Democratic resurgence in 1986 that led to new faces in House Democratic leadership.
Also gone are Rep. Darrel Jor-gen-sen, D-Midvale, who was first elected to the House in 1990; first-term Rep. Paul Shepherd, D-West Jordan; and Rep. Haynes R. Fuller, D-Weber.
"I am angry and disappointed," said House Minority Leader Frank Pig-na-nelli. "Our candidates worked harder than the Republican candidates, they knocked on doors, they did everything they could to show the voters they care about issues like crime and taxes and transportation.
"It's unfair that moderate Democrats who run for the Legislature must suffer because Congress is so messed up."
It could have been worse. Democrats had feared losing Pat Larson's seat in Ogden, but she won with 53 percent of the vote. They feared they could lose Mary Carlson's seat in Salt Lake County, but they didn't. And Kurt Oscarson won re-election by a mere 63 votes in Sandy.
Also disturbing to Democrats are the seven House candidates who raised and spent more than $10,000 - and still lost.