Before you can pull a rabbit out of a hat, you need the rabbit.
And former congressman Bill Orton is the Democrats' bunny in the governor's race this year, hopping in at the last moment.Wednesday, Orton agreed to jump into the race against the rich and popular Gov. Mike Leavitt -- rich because he has more than $1 million in his campaign war chest, popular because 80 percent of Utahns like the job Leavitt is doing as governor.
But while Orton agreed to dive into the race, whether he can keep his head above the political waters is another question.
Orton said he won't campaign until after Labor Day and won't raise much money -- two handicaps in any race but possibly a deadly duo against Leavitt.
But for Democratic Party Chairwoman Meg Holbrook and other party leaders it was take Orton with those restrictions or don't take him at all.
Orton, 50, said he won't sacrifice his family -- he has two young sons -- and his health -- he's still recovering from a serious back injury -- in a long campaign.
Orton was swept from office in 1996 by Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, partly because of the personal money Cannon pumped into the race, partly because just before the election President Clinton created the huge Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which many Utahns hated, in Orton's southeast Utah district.
While many Utahns may have fond memories of Orton, he doesn't fare well now in a head-to-head matchup against Leavitt.
A Deseret News poll conducted in December by pollster Dan Jones & Associates found that if the November gubernatorial election were between Leavitt and Orton, Leavitt would win 61 percent to 25 percent.
Still, Utah Democrats have to be pleased with Orton's decision Wednesday. At least they got a name people recognize.
A week ago the anointed Democratic lamb heading for the Leavitt slaughterhouse, Gregg Lassen, was denied the right to file for governor because he hasn't lived in Utah five years, as the Utah Constitution requires. Holbrook started scrambling.
And while Orton told the Deseret News last September he'd consider a race against Leavitt this year, he'd recently stepped aside for Lassen. Orton said Wednesday he agreed last Sunday to run -- but only after his wife encouraged him and LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley told a National Press Club audience last week that you can be a good Mormon (as Orton is) and be a Democrat, also.
In his announcement speech Wednesday in the Capitol rotunda, Orton thumped Leavitt and legislative Republicans.
He returned again and again to the theme of campaign finance reform and special interests buying power in Utah.
What should Leavitt do with the $500,000 he raised at his big "gala" last Saturday? "Give it all back" to the special interests who gave it, Orton said.
Criticizing Utah campaign finance laws that allow candidates for state and legislative offices to raise as much money as they want from anyone and spend it any way they want, including "buying themselves clothes, a car and putting it in their own pockets," Orton said Leavitt should return the $1 million in his PAC and just debate him across the state.
But Orton doesn't want to debate right soon.
Orton said campaigns are too long and too expensive, so he won't spend much money and he won't campaign until after September 2000.
He said "two months is plenty of time" for the people of Utah to compare him and Leavitt. Orton said he served six years in Congress and most Utahns still remember him and what he stood for, and Leavitt, who has served eight years, is the best-known politician in the state.
"I don't think I will raise much money," Orton told reporters after his announcement. "I will not seek, nor will I accept big money, special interest or corporate contributions."
In his congressional campaigns of the early 1990s, Orton did accept "special interest" money from various PACs as allowed under Federal Election Commission rules. Midway through his 1996 race 70 percent of Orton's money came from PACs.
"I may have some gas money" to travel the state, Orton said Wednesday. "I suppose at some point I'll have to hire some staff" to answer phones and such. "But I'll be relying on volunteers."
"This election my candidacy will offer the people a choice between big money special interests (who give to Leavitt) and the people's interest," Orton said.
And don't expect a lot of TV advertisements. "We'll debate and I'll count on the media" to cover the campaign and inform citizens, he said.
Orton said he is not a registered lobbyist in Washington, D.C. But he does travel to the capital regularly to represent various clients for the large Utah law firm of Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough.