It seems to just start sooner and sooner — people running for a major Utah office months or even years before Election Day.
In the case of the 2004 governor's race, a number of candidates are sounding out party leaders and forming official or unofficial campaign committees more than a year before the candidate filing deadline.
They include the three-term incumbent and several political notables. They are Republicans and Democrats, with names and resumes widely familiar (Huntsman and Matheson, Orton and Murphy) or generally unfamiliar.
One, local millionaire medical products company owner Fred Lampropoulos, started running radio commentaries on a dozen stations across the state in January. He's spending around $20,000 a month on the spots, which may run through November 2004, says Dave Hansen, a longtime GOP operative who is consulting on Lampropoulos' campaign. (See related story on A13.)
As the 2003 Legislature ended, another, Sen. Parley Hellewell, R-Provo, a plumbing contractor, started passing out mouse pads touting his 2004 gubernatorial run. He formally announced three days after the legislative session ended, a full year before the two-week candidate filing period opens in mid-March 2004.
Lampropoulos and Hellewell, both Republicans, are the only two who have actually said they plan on running. State elections officials say only Hellewell and current Gov. Mike Leavitt have formally filed campaign organization documents.
But several appear to be laying groundwork now and even raising some money. They include:
Mike Leavitt. Leavitt is the 800-pound gorilla. The Republican incumbent says he'll announce in late summer whether he runs again or retires.
If he runs, it changes the makeup of the race. Leavitt has kept his political action committees going, and earlier this month he reopened his campaign account. That alone means little. Utah's liberal campaign finance laws allow candidates to raise as much money as they can and from anyone and spend it any way they wish.
But his first campaign account filing isn't required until May 2004, just before the state GOP convention, state Elections Office officials said. Millions of dollars could be raised and spent out of that campaign account by then without his opponents seeing any totals, so it may be a cagey political move to have a campaign account.
Leavitt's main PAC had $312,194 in cash as of Jan. 1. Historically, he's raised between $300,000 and $500,000 a year in that PAC. His second PAC, the Western Republican PAC, is used to help Leavitt and/or other GOP gubernatorial candidates. It had $65,000 in cash, the Jan. 1 reports show.
Recently, Leavitt told the Deseret News editorial board that if he seeks a record-setting fourth term he expects to have serious GOP challengers and will raise funds and campaign intending to win.
Perhaps looking to his future outside of the statehouse, Leavitt has set up his own think-tank, the Institute for State Studies. He's also kept close relations with President Bush, maybe hoping for a high appointment in a second Bush administration.
House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West. Stephens, a manager at Zions Bank, has been eyeing the 2004 race for some time. Two years ago he started an aggressive fund-raising campaign that's allowed him to sock away around $170,000 in his House campaign account, a record for a sitting legislator. That money could be spent on a gubernatorial race.
Stephens says he'll announce whether he'll run for governor in late spring or early summer.
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Shurtleff's first term as the state's top attorney will also be up during the 2004 gubernatorial campaign, so he would have a decision to make. Shurtleff has been raising money. In 2002, he raised $160,288 and had, as of Jan. 1, $139,347 in cash. That, too, could be used in a governor's race.
Shurtleff, a Republican, is the darling of gun-rights advocates, who constitute a strong legislative lobby, for safeguarding concealed/carry permit holders' rights at schools and churches. He even arranged for gun lockers to be placed outside of the 2002 GOP state convention so gun-toters could check their weapons and still hear an address by Vice President Dick Chaney.
But he has blemished his conservative credentials by supporting hate-crime legislation in the Legislature, including a bill that would place homosexuals in protected status, an idea opposed by the party's right wing.
Former House Speaker Nolan Karras. Karras, a financial adviser and longtime GOP ally of Leavitt, was going to run for governor in 1992 but got out of the way for Leavitt. Leavitt has since appointed him to various positions, including to the Board of Regents, which Karras now chairs.
Karras recently told the Deseret News he'll announce his plans later in the year, perhaps after Leavitt has declared a decision.
Jon Huntsman Jr. Huntsman brings the whole package to any race. He's young, attractive, experienced and wealthy. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore a decade ago and recently resigned as deputy U.S. trade representative to move his family back to Utah, where he will be chairman and CEO of the Huntsman Family Holding Corp., which oversees his family's businesses throughout the world.
Since his father, Jon Huntsman Sr., briefly entered the 1988 race for governor then withdrew, the family has kept its fingers in local and national politics over the years. The billionaire industrialist and philanthropist was Elizabeth Dole's national finance chairman in her 2002 presidential run.
Huntsman Jr.'s announcement that he was coming back to Utah caused a flurry of interest among governor wannabes. But Huntsman Jr., who could put millions of dollars of family money into any campaign, said he won't challenge Leavitt should the governor decide to run again.
Utah County GOP Commissioner Gary Herbert. Herbert has attended a number of GOP events, such as February's Lincoln Day dinners, the kind of socializing seen as a prerequisite for major candidates for the upcoming year.
Former Senate President Lane Beattie. Beattie resigned from the Senate to become Leavitt's Olympic officer but kept a rather low profile during the Games. He's stayed on in that position, however, and is available for a 2004 contest. Beattie, a Republican, closed out his campaign account after leaving the Senate, giving the final $3,400 in cash to himself.
Former Major League Baseball star Dale Murphy. Murphy has stated in several public speeches that he intends to run but has been quiet lately.
Democrats usually don't start their campaigns as early as Republicans in Utah. However, Senate Minority Whip Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park, held a fund-raiser several weeks ago and told contributors that the money would be used to explore running for governor next year. Allen's term is not up in 2004, so he could run for governor and not give up his Senate seat. On Jan. 1, Allen, who owns a computer consulting firm, had only $2,280 in his campaign account.
Scott Matheson Jr. and his younger brother, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. The men's father, the late Gov. Scott M. Matheson, held the governorship from 1976 to 1984. Scott Jr. is dean of the University of Utah law school. Jim Matheson won the old 2nd District in 2000 and won re-election in the new 2nd District in a narrow victory last November. Federal election law greatly restricts how much cash Rep. Matheson could move from his federal accounts to a race for governor. But he's proven himself a fine fund-raiser in his two House contests, raising more than $1 million each run.
Former Congressman Bill Orton. An attorney, Democrat Orton lost his 3rd District seat to Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, in 1996. He challenged Leavitt in 2000, making a decent race of it. Orton actually beat Leavitt in Salt Lake County but lost badly in more Republican areas of the state. Orton has mended from a severe back injury and is considering the race if no other serious Democratic contenders enter.
Former Attorney General Jan Graham. While Graham is the only Democrat to win a statewide race in recent history, she did align herself with some traditionally liberal groups during her years in office, 1992 through 2000. After leaving office, Graham announced she and others were starting a PAC to oppose conservative groups, like the Utah Eagle Forum. However, a year ago she abandoned that effort. As of Jan. 1, Graham still had $60,575 in her old campaign account and could use it to run for governor.
Some new Democratic faces could emerge, including former Geneva Steel executive Robert Grow and XMISSION president Pete Ashdown, state party officials say.
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com