If you like to feel wanted, there's no better way than to become a state or county Republican or Democratic party delegate.
At least for a couple of weeks every two years, you will get a lot of attention. That is, if there happens to be an intraparty contest in your legislative or congressional area.For the past several weeks -- especially in the Utah Republican Party -- delegates have been feted, quizzed and solicited.
Yes, it's the time where you can meet with U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch or Gov. Mike Leavitt or three Republicans vying for the 2nd Congressional District. For example, a GOP 2nd District delegate could go to Larry Miller's new Jordan Commons, eat some pizza and watch for free the IMAX movie with Jeff Wright. Or they could meet U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, at Wheeler Farm with Rep. Merrill Cook.
Leavitt has been traveling around the state meeting with Republican delegates. Most of those meetings are going well. But the governor has also had to answer some unpleasant questions like why he didn't veto a bill last month that, some say, harms consumer input in utility rate-setting hearings.
And if you're a delegate and have a contested primary in a Utah House district, you really get attention. Maybe more than you want.
One Utah County GOP incumbent has been meeting with delegates for a month, I'm told. He's reportedly three votes short of eliminating all his intraparty challengers at the county convention. But he can't seem to turn those last three votes but not from a lack of talking with delegates, who may be a little tired of hearing his voice.
Most elected officials hold "town meetings" during the year. These public gatherings are aimed at getting feedback on a number of issues on which the official is working and voting.
Leavitt, for example, routinely has a call-in program on KBYU. And Thursday he traveled out to the Uinta Basin on his Capitol-For-A-Day visit program.
And while some party faithful likely attend those meetings, there's no better way to get a feel for what the party rank-and-file are thinking than in talking to delegates.
GOP state leaders have, for some time, argued that Republican Party candidates should be picked wholly within party ranks. In other words, there should be no primary elections. Or primary elections should be closed, with only registered Republicans allowed to vote.
Some may not see much of a difference. But there is.
Unless the delegate process was greatly changed -- more delegate slots allowed, greater efforts in getting people involved in delegate races and so on -- if Republican candidates were picked by delegates with no general population impact, you could count on candidates being much more conservative.
And the same swing could be seen in Democratic candidates -- they likely would be more liberal in their philosophical bent.
I was talking this week to a Republican legislator who is now in a party primary. At his county convention he was harmed, he believes, when he voted for one of the House GOP's official "crime-fighting" bills. The far right of his party, he said, was against the measure -- although the bill flew through the session and gun rights groups didn't even oppose it.
He believes rank-and-file Republicans are recognizing that some ultraconservative candidates and officeholders are out of step with what's important to everyday citizens.
The pendulum will swing back from the right of the Republican Party more to the center, he guesses.
But the leveling effect in such a swing has not traditionally been the hard-core delegates. It's been the open primary, where anyone can vote and independents or even Democrats can come into the Republican Party to pick the more moderate candidate.
Democratic Party chairwoman Meg Holbrook says that Democrats, for a time, allowed special interest groups to speak for most Utah Democrats. And that hurt the party in the 1980s and early 1990s.
That's not happening much any more. For example, the Utah Gay and Lesbian Democrats disbanded their formal organization several years ago. They aren't seen on Capitol Hill lobbying lawmakers; aren't sending out press releases to the media every couple of weeks like they did.
Republicans haven't silenced their factions, however. Perhaps they don't want to; couldn't even if they did want to.
Will this be the year of the return of the moderate center in Utah Republican politics?
Some believe so.
But the real test will come in the county and state conventions, in the candidates and platform planks that are adopted.
For now, it's the delegates' day in the sun. And until the May 6 GOP and Democratic state conventions, they are the most important people in the election year.
Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com