State Democratic Party officials won't ask Ross Anderson to abandon his 2nd Congressional District race, so Jim McConkie "has taken himself out of the race," party chairman Mike Zuhl said Monday afternoon.
Monday morning McConkie, who is considered a moderate candidate, said he's quitting the race unless Anderson steps aside or otherwise assures McConkie that there won't be a Democratic primary race this year.Anderson said he's running, and filed for the office Monday. Zuhl says he's sorry McConkie has taken this stand, but no leader will ask Anderson to quit. So McConkie is gone, assumes Zuhl.
"My mother told me there would be days like this . . . " a clearly disappointed Zuhl said after reading McConkie's five-page letter in which McConkie says the Utah Democratic Party is being held hostage by one-issue groups like gays and lesbians.
McConkie believes that moderate Democratic candidates can't win in heavily Republican Utah unless various factions of the Democratic Party put aside their special interests and unite behind a reasonable candidate. He believes that candidate in the 2nd District to be himself, not Anderson, who McConkie maintains is too liberal to win in November.
Zuhl takes special exception to McConkie's "labeling" Anderson a liberal and says special interests have not captured the party.
McConkie said that should he not run, party leaders must find another moderate candidate to run against and beat Anderson in the state Democratic convention. Otherwise, Democrats will lose in November, he maintains.
But Zuhl said with a week left before the filing deadline - "an eternity in Democratic politics in Utah" - party leaders are not recruiting any candidate to run against Anderson.
"There are two people out there considering this race - Frank Pignanelli and Jenny Wilson. For now, we're just waiting to see what happens," said Zuhl.
Pignanelli is the minority leader in the Utah House, a Democrat from Salt Lake City's Capitol Hill/Avenues area. Jenny Wilson is the daughter of former Salt Lake Mayor Ted Wilson and chief of staff for Democratic Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah.
The filing deadline for all offices this election year is Monday, March 18, at 5 p.m.
Besides firming up good candidates for the 2nd District, which is a seat Democrats have held recently, Zuhl is also trying to find someone to run against GOP Gov. Mike Leavitt.