At a different time, in another state, he would have been governor, a U.S. senator, or even both.
The younger generation in Utah knows Ted Wilson as a political pundit. Or as a trusted friend and teacher at the University of Utah.
Older Utahns recall him as Salt Lake City mayor from 1976 to 1985, a lively U.S. Senate candidate in 1982 calling a stiff-lipped Orrin Hatch to task, and a 1988 gubernatorial front-runner who somehow let a 38-point lead in the polls slip away to then-GOP Gov. Norm Bangerter.
Wilson, 64, retired Friday as director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics — a job "I really loved."
Now sprouting a salt-and-pepper beard, Wilson looks less like a college professor than a runner, skier and mountain climber, his long time passions. He is only a bit heavier than the 36-year-old, fresh-faced "kid" in politics who surprised insiders by winning the 1975 mayor's race.
"I was like Robert Redford in the movie 'The Candidate,' " said Wilson, who has maintained a long-time personal friendship with the elusive actor, film director and Sundance Resort owner.
"I never thought I'd win that race. I thought I'd get my name in the media, people would get to know me some, keep my options open" for bigger races later on. "After all, I was running against two incumbents — a mayor and city commissioner."
As mayor of Utah's capital city, Wilson became one of the state's leading Democratic officeholders in the 1970s and 1980s with the late Gov. Scott M. Matheson.
Looking back nearly 30 years, he says 1976 through 1980, his first term on the old Salt Lake City Commission, were "the toughest years of my life, especially in politics."
A scandal — nicknamed Citygate — opened a door for Wilson and then-Commissioner Jess Agraz to lead citizens into changing the form of city government.
In 1979, Wilson - who was so disgusted with how the city was being manipulated by several other commissioners that before the change-in-government vote he'd announced he wouldn't run again - grabbed a second term. He coasted to a third-term victory in 1983 — and while he wouldn't have guessed it then, it was the last election he would win in 20 years.
But instead of looking back, gaze forward a bit. In fine health and good humor, Wilson says he's not ready for the scrap heap yet.
Will he run for office again?
"I could," he said during an interview in his Avenues townhouse. "Some Democrats have talked to me about running for some county office next year. But I'm only interested in some kind of part-time service — nothing full time now."
Wilson will continue teaching one special class at the U. each spring — a three-week trip to India where students spend one week studying Indian government and politics, one week building a school for poor students, and one week "doing the traditional tourist thing."
Like a number of Wilson admirers, Gary Beer first met Wilson through politics and they became close friends. "I suppose what drew me to Ted at first was just how genuine he is as a person," said Beer, now the chief executive officer of the Smithsonian Business Ventures, the marketing/publications arm of the huge museum.
Politics and teaching
Beer worked on Wilson campaigns; their families becoming close when Beer ran Redford's Utah business operations. "Ted has fairly simple needs. But he is not a simple person. His ambition for the Senate or to be governor was never driven by political ego. I guess the biggest thing is this: He kept those losses in perspective, which speaks fundamentally to the kind of man he is. He was a nano second away from being a U.S. senator, even closer to being governor. Yet he goes right back to helping young people. And he's fine with that. He never strayed from his values or roots."
For 18 years Wilson has headed the Hinckley Institute — officially an arm of the university originally started by a grant from the Robert Hinckley family. "I've loved politics. But I've always felt more at home teaching. It has been a wonderful 18 years," Wilson said. "I couldn't have asked for more."
But actually, he did.
He asked Utahns first to send him to the U.S. Senate in 1982. Failing in that race, six years later he asked them to put him in the statehouse.
If Wilson had been running in a less-conservative Western state, such as Oregon, Washington or New Mexico, he likely would have won one or both of those races.
Always well liked among residents — Wilson received high job approval ratings as mayor — he couldn't quite climb the wall of Republican Utah in two statewide elections.
The campaign trail
He says he never believed he could beat Hatch. But he still regrets letting the 1988 governor's race get away.
Bangerter had pushed through the Legislature the largest tax increase in the state's history in 1988, when the economy was in a slump. He'd also spent $60 million to pump the Great Salt Lake, then threatening to flood I-80, railroads and businesses.
Everything was looking good for Wilson, who in 1985 resigned his mayor's post mid-term to take the Hinckley job. Then Merrill Cook jumped into the governor's race as an independent, took over the tax protest movement and siphoned votes from Wilson and Bangerter.
"I and my campaign staff didn't take the race as seriously as we should have. I was so far ahead. Everyone kept telling me to take it easy, don't get tough" on any issue or person. And he followed that advice rather than those who urged him to attack Bangerter on the tax hikes.
A former high school economics teacher at Skyline High School, Wilson admired Bangerter for raising taxes for public schools. "I just wouldn't go after him for that. I ended up giving away my best issue in that campaign."
Cook got to know Wilson during that race. "Ted Wilson was a gentleman to me," Cook said. "Remember, in 1988 I was being shunned in debates because I was not a major party candidate, but Ted demanded that I be included. And they did because of Ted's personal magnetism."
Wilson's 38 percentage-point lead in the polls gradually shrank. He lost to Bangerter by 2 percentage points.
Utah Democrats
But Wilson admits the loss cost more than just the statehouse.
If he had won, as governor he could have vetoed the GOP-Legislature's 1991 legislative and congressional redistricting plan, and so forced a compromise. It could have changed statewide elective politics for a decade.
The loss "probably really hurt Democrats" in the state, Wilson admits. "I probably would have been a two-term governor. Remember, by 1990 the economy turned around and stayed good for all of the 1990s.
"But Bangerter got the benefit of that. Then (GOP Gov.) Mike Leavitt got the benefit of that."
Democrats lost a chance to manage the state during the booming 1990s and Utah became one of the most Republican states in the nation over the past 20 years.
While Wilson would make a short — and failed — run for the Utah Senate (a part-time job) in the mid-1990s, it was that 1988 defeat that changed his sights.
"Really, I'm a teacher." And he's had a wonderful chance to live that at the institute, he said, noting that teaching helped him cope with the political losses of 1988.
But Wilson didn't retreat from the public eye completely while at the U.
Unlike some other formerly high profile officeholders (Bangerter returned to homebuilding, and Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is seldom heard from), Wilson was often in the news, giving his views on Utah politics.
A search of Deseret Morning News archives from mid-1988 through 2003 brings up 1,577 stories that contain Wilson's name.
"Good grief. I wouldn't have thought it would be so much. I really didn't seek becoming a political pundit. But being at the Hinckley is a natural draw" for reporters. "I always did get along with the media." He actually likes reporters, he says, and as he admits, he looks good on TV.
During his 1982 Senate race he learned "to speak in 30 second sound bites" for TV and radio, something that endeared him to electronic journalists strapped for time.
"I always tried to call reporters back quickly," and so got into stories that more tardy "experts" missed through deadlines. For several years Wilson wrote a political gossip/analysis column for the Enterprise business newspaper. And a year ago — with partner LaVarr Webb, a former managing editor at the Deseret Morning News — Wilson started writing a Sunday political column for this newspaper.
While losing the 1988 governor's race is his greatest political regret, he counts the students he has worked with as his greatest achievement in 30 years of public and quasi-public life.
"I went to last weekend's state Democratic Convention. I sat in the audience and saw maybe 12 or 13 people walk to the stage who were Hinckley (political) interns. We've made a difference, bringing along such good, honest people out there. Donald Dunn (the new state Democratic chairman) was an intern," he said.
"But it is not just Democrats. (Former U.S. Congresswoman, now newly elected state GOP vice chairwoman) Enid Greene was an intern, too."
Future plans
Wilson says he probably will never leave politics.
Along with Webb, Bangerter ("who is really a good friend, now") and half a dozen other Republicans and Democrats, Wilson started a new political/public relations/fund-raising group called Exoro.
The consortium is doing better than expected financially, several principals say.
For the immediate future, Wilson is advising Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson on his re-election race. And in addition to Exoro, Wilson is opening a government consulting business with one of his daughters.
Still, all things end, including his teaching career. "For 18 years it was off the chart, professionally speaking. To get to know these students; one couldn't ask for a better life."
Salt Lake City mayor — 1976-1985
U.S. Senate candidate — 1982
Gubernatorial candidate — 1988
Director of U. Hinckley Institute of Politics — 1985-2003
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com