Will the Utah Republican Party lurch to the right in Tuesday's primaries?
Democrats, eager to give middle-of-the-road Utahns a reason to vote for them, hope so.Moderate Republicans, who want to keep their voice in the strong majorities in the state Legislature and their ilk in county commissions and other local offices, hope not.
While few elections end up being watershed events - more often the political Chicken Littles of the world are soon forgotten - Tuesday's elections across the state will give a glimpse at the present and near-future trends within the state's majority party.
In race after race, moderate Republican incumbents, who steadfastly refer to themselves as mainstream conservatives, are being challenged by candidates to their right who vow to:
- Bring the GOP back to its basic principles.
- Get state and county governments out of citizens' lives.
- Interject (in a few cases) a bit of old-time religion into civic affairs.
Few Democrats have primaries this year - none in Utah, Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties, where county and legislative races Tuesday are strictly a Republican matter.
The lack of Democratic in-fighting comes through a combination of county and state Democratic leaders recruiting single candidates in each race and party conventions with relatively low thresholds for nomination. What challengers there were, were eliminated in the conventions.
That leaves Democrats and independents free to vote in GOP primaries up and down Utah.
Historically, crossover voting hasn't meant much - the documented exception coming in the 1990 GOP 2nd Congressional District primary where exit polls showed Republicans favored one candidate, who lost because Democrats and independents who voted went for the more moderate candidate.
Joe Hatch, Salt Lake County Democratic chairman, urges local Democrats to get out Tuesday and vote against some of the "extremists" in various races. But Hatch declines to say who they might be.
Salt Lake County officials have some interesting match-ups, but none that fall out along the moderate-conservative time line.
Incumbent Commissioner Mary Callaghan has had some classic battles with fellow GOP Commissioner Brent Overson. Now Overson backs Callaghan-challenger Wendy Smith in the Commission Seat A contest. Smith, after Overson got booed at the Salt Lake County GOP convention, is no doubt wondering if Overson helps or hurts her.
In the Salt Lake commission B race former Salt Lake City Commissioner Steve Harmsen faces Mark Shurtleff. Harmsen lost a bid for Salt Lake mayor a couple of years ago.
And attorney Mark Griffin is using Salt Lake District Attorney Neal Gunnarson's failure to press charges against Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini as a springboard to oust the one-term incumbent.
The premier primary race is undoubtedly in the 3rd Congressional District, where freshman Rep. Chris Cannon faces newcomer Jeremy Friedbaum.
Friedbaum shocked GOP insiders by squeaking into the primary. He survived the state Republican convention in May by a handful of votes.
Cannon, a multimillionaire financier, wasn't counting on seeing his name on a ballot June 23.
For the first time in the state's history, Democrats failed to put up a candidate in a U.S. House race, and Cannon figured to breeze through the November election. For the primary, Cannon has quickly geared up a turn-out-the-vote effort and is running radio ads in southern Utah, where air time is cheap.
Only a couple of months ago, few believed Cannon would have a GOP fight. But Friedbaum says he received personal, God-sent inspiration to challenge Cannon, speak the truth, take no campaign funds and run a shoestring campaign offering conservatives a choice.
Friedbaum, however, doesn't carry the endorsements of two growing, core GOP groups - the Utah Republican Assembly and the Utah Eagle Forum.
But the URA did endorse Hartley Anderson - the GOP opponent to Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who was eliminated at the state GOP convention - and a dozen local candidates.
If some of those local, conservative Republicans win Tuesday, moderates in the Grand Old Party will be even more shaky than they are today.
Besides the 3rd District contest, here are a few other races to watch to see if the right wing of the Republican Party brings home the title Tuesday:
- State Senate District 15 in Orem. Here, Parley Hellewell - who has run for office before - is a URA-backed candidate running against Greg Soter. The seat is vacant through retiring GOP Sen. LeRay McAllister.
- Senate District 21 in northern Davis County. Jeffrey Ostler seeks to unseat longtime Sen. Dave Steele in this seat. This is a classic educator vs. conservative race. Steele, a force in education spending in the Senate, is a longtime administrator in the Davis School District. Ostler has the URA backing.
- House District 20 in Bountiful and North Salt Lake. Larry Parker, with URA support, is going after Rep. Richard Siddoway in a district that has swung between moderate and conservative Republicans. "There are too many educators and state employees in the Legislature," says Parker. Siddoway is the principal of the state's electronic high school.
- House District 18 in Woods Cross, Centerville and West Bountiful. Rep. Susan Koehn's opponent, Dick Brown, doesn't have the backing of any organized conservative group. But Brown, who is an officer in the Davis County Libertarian Party, wants less state and federal government and favors deep tax cuts to achieve those goals.
- House District 52 in Draper and Riverton. Challenger Kerry Casaday believes Rep. Dave Hogue should retire. Casaday has URA support but says people shouldn't think of him as on the fringe. "I do believe in the U.S. Constitution. But I'm no nut. I wouldn't vote for Bo Gritz. I don't carry an AK-47 in the back seat of my car," says Casaday.
- In Utah County, the sheriff's race is turning out to be a real boiler. Incumbent Dave Bateman is being challenged by Richard Mack, a former sheriff in Arizona who made national news when he refused to enforce the national Brady gun law. Mack is endorsed by the URA but is keeping his candidacy far away from Friedbaum's. Mack has endorsed Cannon and wants county voters to look at him (Mack) alone on Tuesday, not tie him to anyone else.
- And finally, in Utah County's Commission Seat B contest incumbent Dave Gardner is challenged by Hans V. Andersen Jr., who ran unsuccessful campaigns for Orem mayor in 1993 and Orem City Council in 1995 and this year has the backing of the URA.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Where to vote
Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. To find out what precinct you live in or where to vote, call your county clerk's office:
Salt Lake County - 468-3427
(See Pages AA6 and AA7 of today's newspaper for a list of polling places.)
Also, League of Women Voters, 272-8683.
Davis County - 451-3213
(See Page A10 of today's newspaper for a list of polling places.)
Utah County - 370-8128
Summit County
Park City - 615-3204
Coalville - 336-3204
Kamas - 783-3204
Tooele County - 843-3140
Wasatch County 654-3211, Ext. 348
Weber County - 399-8400
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Election results
Coverage of primary-election voting will be provided in Wednesday's Deseret News.
Results also will be available that morning through the Deseret News World Wide Web Page at (http://www. desnews.com).