The race for the newly drawn 2nd congressional District turned out to be a white-knuckle urban-versus-rural contest, with Democratic incumbent Rep. Jim Matheson winning a second term Tuesday largely on the strength of his Salt Lake County showing.
His margin, though, was translucent: With all but two precincts in Daggett and Garfield counties counted, Matheson's 2,015-vote lead gave him a mere .92 percent lead over Republican challenger John Swallow, 49.53 percent to 48.61 percent.
Swallow declined to comment Tuesday night, but scheduled an announcement for Wednesday and then later canceled it. Instead, Swallow press secretary Emily Christensen issued a statement saying: "There are still precincts that have yet to report, as well as absentee and provisional ballots to be counted. The campaign will review the number of outstanding ballots. Once the number of outstanding ballots has been determined, the campaign will issue a further statement."
Matheson had originally planned to speak at his campaign headquarters Wednesday morning, but that engagement was pushed back indefinitely, said Alyson Heyrend, Matheson's spokeswoman.
"We're feeling pretty good; we're up by 2,000," she said. But the two remaining precincts and an undetermined number of provisional ballots remain uncounted.
"It's kind of hard to claim victory when you're waiting on those things," she said.
Provisional ballots are given to voters who have not registered at their current address. They are allowed to fill out a ballot, but their addresses must be verified before those votes are tallied, she said.
Swallow drew about 59 percent of the votes in the district's 15 counties outside Salt Lake County. But that wasn't enough to overcome Matheson's 59 percent in the state's largest urban area, despite Republican redistricting that cut Salt Lake County in three and parceled out the pieces to all three congressional districts.
By the time all 423 Salt Lake County precincts were counted, Matheson had 25,828 more votes in the county than Swallow.
Swallow in turn overwhelmed Matheson in the four counties in the southwestern corner of the district.
In Iron County, where Matheson's roots reach back six generations, Swallow handily beat Matheson by a 2-1 margin. Garfield County also went for Swallow 2-1.
In Washington County, Swallow more than doubled Matheson's votes. Uintah and Kane counties and the quarter of Utah County gerrymandered into the 2nd District also handed Swallow twice as many votes as Matheson.
Carbon and Grand counties, with their strong Democratic presence, went for Matheson. In Wasatch County, Matheson defeated Swallow by just 18 votes. In Daggett County, with two of three precincts counted, Matheson led by 46 votes.
In his first Congressional term and during the campaign, Matheson, 42, stressed his independence as a lawmaker and allied with conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dogs.
An energy consultant, he provided financial advice to large energy users. He is a member of the House Transportation, Budget and Science committees. He opposed the president's decision to house the nation's hottest radioactive waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.
Matheson said his main issues as a candidate and congressman are to continue supporting the war on terrorism, exercise fiscal responsibility and find ways to stimulate the economy.
He voted for the Bush tax cut plan, and doesn't want to consider a rollback even though the economy is in dire straits. He opposed moves to raise the national debt ceiling.
He was among those in Congress calling on the Bush administration to consult with Congress on how to define new military missions, and share more information on how long they might last. His support of Bush's war powers, however, wasn't a vote to go to war, he said.
Matheson supports a woman's right to have an abortion and opposes public school vouchers.
Swallow, 39, a three-term legislator in the Utah House, is anti-abortion and has backed tax credits for those who send their children to private schools.
He told The Associated Press he'd like to get rid of the Department of Education. Had he been in Congress at the time, he said, he would have voted against the Bush education reform bill.
He was key in passing legislation that prohibits child adoptions by non-married couples. He also sponsored legislation that cut payroll taxes in Utah by more than $100 million.
A self-described fiscal and social conservative, Swallow said the country's health- care system needs an overhaul and that Medicare should include prescription benefits. He objected to the president's decision to proceed with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage proposal because it tramples states' rights.
Republican lawmakers redrew Utah's 2nd District this year with the idea that more rural voters would only help their candidate wrest the seat from Matheson.
The district used to be entirely in Salt Lake County; now it encompasses 16 counties covering nearly half the state.