Two prominent Democrats are seriously considering running against Rep. Enid Waldholtz next year, but one - former Salt Lake mayor Ted Wilson - says Utah Democrats shouldn't be too quick to think the 2nd Congressional District seat is theirs or be too happy about Waldholtz's financial troubles.

Wilson and local attorney Jim McConkie met last week and decided that they wouldn't run against each other next year - either one or the other will run for the 2nd District, Wilson says.McConkie, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2nd District way back in 1976, is the law partner of Rich McKeown, who just last week lost a close race for mayor against Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini.

Wilson is a three-term mayor who lost a U.S. Senate race to Sen. Orrin Hatch in 1982 and a gubernatorial race against former Gov. Norm Bangerter in 1988. Wilson now heads the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.

Meanwhile, sources in Utah say that Waldholtz, R-Utah, has retained the services of nationally known political consultant Eddie Mahe to help her over her financial problems. Mahe consulted on Waldholtz's 1994 campaign, where she spent $1.8 million of her own money and defeated incumbent Democratic Rep. Karen Shepherd. Where exactly she got the $1.8 million and how it flowed into her campaign is at the heart of new questions about Waldholtz's finances.

Between her defeat in 1992's 2nd District race and her 1994 victory, Waldholtz married Joe Waldholtz - and her financial filings with the House clerk showed her assets jumped from around $300,000 to several million dollars after the marriage. It's assumed the money came from Joe Wald-holtz.

Waldholtz's Washington, D.C., office couldn't immediately confirm or deny that Mahe has come on board and is working with several attorneys Waldholtz has hired to help figure out a tangle of personal and campaign financial records.

There appear to be a number of contradictions in Waldholtz's 1994 Federal Election Commission reports, sources tell the Deseret News. The newspaper has also independently confirmed that the FBI has questioned former campaign workers and has taken possession of some documents related to the campaign. The Hill, a weekly newspaper based in Washington, D.C., also reported on an FBI investigation of Waldholtz's finances.

Former campaign workers say that Joe Waldholtz had control of the campaign's finances and filed the FEC reports. Dozens of campaign checks bounced, those workers say, when FEC reports showed upwards of $100,000 in cash in the campaign account. Enid Waldholtz said she will explain all the problems in due time, adding that entangled finances of Joe's family have led her not to explain matters before.

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Wilson said he and McConkie should decide before the end of November which of them will run next year. But he adds: "(Democrats) shouldn't be overanxious. Especially now, it almost looks like we're picking over the corpse" of Waldholtz, who is by no means finished.

Several things could still happen, warned Wilson. Enid Wald-holtz may be able to come up with a politically acceptable explanation for the financial troubles, although that will be a challenge, said Wilson. Or Wald-holtz could decide not to seek re-election next year, and an open seat could lead to a number of good GOP challengers filing for the open seat. Democrats "could be worse off (politically) with Enid out of the race altogether," said Wilson.

Finally, if Waldholtz runs - but is clearly badly damaged politically - other Democrats could get in the race to challenge Wilson or McConkie, and Democrats could end up with a divisive primary anyway, said Wilson.

Democrats held the 2nd District seat for eight years before Waldholtz defeated Shepherd in 1994.

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