Power structures are interesting things.
If you are in one — be it political, social or economic — you tend not to admit that you are. You may even deny there is such a structure.
If you are outside of it, you want to get in — either by joining or by taking it over and throwing those who are in out.
Some dissatisfied Republicans are trying, as best they can, to shake up the power structure in Utah's Republican Party. They believe it has become an old-boy network that regularly disregards its own rules and bylaws and works to keep reformers at bay.
And so far they seem to be meeting quite some resistance.
The latest foray deals with the Salt Lake County Republican Party, the state party, the two parties' conventions and who gets to attend the National Republican Convention as delegates this summer.
Mike Ridgeway and his Republicans for Electorial Fairness have put together a slate of national convention delegate candidates whom he hopes the state GOP convention will support.
Meanwhile, Ron Fox, Texas Gov. George W. Bush's Utah campaign manager, and the current power-brokers in the state party have their own slate of national delegates. That list is impressive by anyone's standard, including U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, Rep. Chris Cannon, Gov. Mike Leavitt, Lt. Gov. Olene Walker, state House Speaker Marty Stephens and Senate President Lane Beattie, Salt Lake County Commissioner Mary Callaghan and so on.
The 3,600 state convention delegates will vote on the 119 people who seek the 29 delegate slots and the 29 alternate positions.
Other factors will enter into the contests at the May 6 GOP state convention. For example, Don and Gayle Ruzicka and three of their daughters and a son-in-law are again running for delegate and alternate positions and hope to get support from the party's right wing and pro-life element.
And there are some well-known Republicans, like former party chairman Richard Snelgrove, who are running for delegate slots as well and aren't on Ridgeway's or Fox's official slates.
Still, if state convention delegates don't pick many — or most — of Bush's official slate, it will be a message to the current party power-brokers that there is dissatisfaction among the ranks. And that dissatisfaction has a bite among the party's rank-and-file.
Unlike past years, there can't be some kind of revolt in the national convention delegate selection process — like delegates for Alan Keyes winning slots. By internal party rules, since Bush won the March 10 Republican presidential primary in Utah, at the national convention all 29 Utah delegates must vote for Bush.
But if strong conservative or pro-life delegates are picked from Utah they could join up with like-minded delegates from other states to push the party platform to the right, cause a political shift on the pro-life question and other issues.
In short, Bush could come out of a divided or ideological convention this August. To some die-hard Republicans, that could be a very good thing. The moderate Bush could feel constrained, either in his campaigning or in the first months or years of his administration.
Or it could be a bad thing. A rhetorically bitter 1996 national GOP convention was believed to have weakened former Sen. Bob Dole's campaign.
Whether Utah's 29 delegates and alternates could have any part in such a national scheme is questionable.
But certainly it will be interesting to watch whether the dissatisfied side of the Utah GOP does get support come May 6.
And there are several other interesting internal races to watch, too.
Running for national committeeman will be real estate magnate John Price, the current national committeeman, and former U.S. Sen. Jake Garn and former 3rd Congressional District candidate Tom Draschil.
Price routinely gives $100,000 a year to the National Republican Committee, putting him in the elite "Club 100" of the top givers.
Garn served three terms in the U.S. Senate before retiring in 1992. He's earned hero fame in Utah, having flown on the space shuttle. A statue of Garn in an astronaut suit stands in the Utah Capitol.
Draschil is a co-founder with Don Ruzicka of the Utah Republican Assembly, an attempt to "reinstill" core Republican beliefs into the local and state parties and get GOP candidates to adhere to party platforms and ideals while running for and serving in office.
The national committeemen and women are the state party's official link with the national party. They regularly travel to Washington, D.C., for national party meetings.
Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com