Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, looked rested Tuesday night while accepting well-wishers' congratulations on winning his ninth congressional term.
Hansen had plenty of energy to spare, given the fact that the 1st Congressional District race this year wasn't ever much of a race. It resembled more a stroll in the park.To free himself of special interest influence-peddling, Democratic challenger Greg Sanders didn't accept contributions from political action committees - and reaped the consequences. As of last Friday he had raised only $61,718 (equaling one-fourth of Hansen's $277,150, $143,000 of which came from PACs) and boosted his name recognition to barely a blip on the radar screen.
"(Sanders) thought if he didn't take PAC money, people would take notice but, of course, they didn't," Hansen said.
Raising relatively little money of his own, Hansen swamped Sanders 68 percent to 30 percent and carried every county, according to complete but unofficial results. That margin of victory was surpassed only in 1984, when Hansen beat Milt Abrams 71 to 28 percent.
"I'm a little surprised at the margin, because Jim's negatives are big enough that (Sanders) should have gotten a little more," said Joe Hansen, Jim Hansen's campaign manager.
As for Sanders, he looked fairly relaxed himself. Sitting at a table at the Ogden Park Hotel, where northern Utah Democratic candidates gathered to eat, drink and watch the returns, he said he had conducted an experiment.
"This campaign was about a regular guy, not a millionaire, who wanted to see if he could win a congressional race without special interest money," he said. "The answer is no. The day of Abe Lincoln is over."
Sanders plans another try at the 1st District seat in two years, and this time, he said, given the results of his experiment, he's going to accept PAC money.
Flip-flopping? He says no - rather, practical politics.
"I absolutely believe this race is winnable," he said. "I claim to be the pragmatic guy, and pragmatically you can't do it without PAC money."
As for Hansen, he'd love to have Sanders around again.
"Well, yes - I'd rather him than someone else," he said of his once and perhaps future opponent. "We'd give him $10,000 if we thought it would help."
Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives Tuesday, which may have helped one of their more senior members from giving up his seat - at least for now.
"If we end up in the minority, I might just hang it up," Hansen said.
Hansen's tenure is already the longest of any Utah congressman. He attributes his longevity to a basic dovetailing of his principles with those of his constituents.
"I think they vote me in because I'm one of them," he said. "I'm about as exciting as watching grass grow."
Hansen said he most likely would remain in his present position as chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands in the new Congress, but he held open the possibility of becoming chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence or the National Security Subcommittee of Research and Development.
"No one takes shots at you there," he said.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
1st District county-by-county tallies
Precincts Sanders Hansen Tolpinrud
Beaver 8 of 8 529 1,559 25
Box Elder 37 of 37 3,273 9,904 241
Cache 59 of 59 6,658 18,976 417
Davis 205 of 205 20,719 48,492 1,240
Iron 21 of 21 1,612 7,412 128
Juab 12 of 12 642 1,644 12
Millard 17 of 17 776 3,340 44
Rich 5 of 5 142 557 5
Salt Lake 2 of 2 162 165 12
Tooele 27 of 27 3,311 5,730 146
Washington 55 of 55 4,736 19,573 349
Weber 147 of 147 22,955 31,864 1,150
Total 595 of 595 65,515 149,216 3,769