Voters often tell us they're sick to death of negative campaigning. They're offended by the mudslinging; the snippy sound bites on the evening news and the rude mailings that fill their mailboxes each election season.
Utah's gubernatorial race, by contrast, was a gentlemanly pursuit. Candidates Jon Huntsman Jr., the Republican, and Scott Matheson Jr., the Democrat, each made his case to voters in a civil, respectful manner. Shortly after Huntsman's victory speech at the Hilton Hotel downtown, the two men greeted one another in the hotel lobby with a hug.
Matheson, though disappointed, said he was proud of the campaign, which is considered one of the least contentious in Utah history. Both men are to be congratulated for taking the high road in a high-stakes game that easily can turn ugly.
The governor's race was in sharp contrast to the 2nd District race, which pitted incumbent Democrat Jim Matheson and Republican John Swallow. Like his older brother, Matheson attempted to run a positive campaign based on his experience in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republican National Committee had other designs, peppering the airwaves with surly messages supporting Swallow and deluging district residents with inflammatory and inaccurate ads late in the campaign. The incumbent congressman responded to the attacks in the final days of the campaign. As it turned out, Matheson was readily re-elected.
While negative campaigning might carry the day elsewhere, Utahns tend to recoil at repeated attacks. Most can read through the nasty rhetoric and code words the first time they see these messages. By the 20th time, they're absolutely fed up.
For the most part, Utahns stuck by incumbents and issues in their comfort zones and rejected proposals they deemed unclear. For instance, the wildly popular ZAP tax was reauthorized in Salt Lake and Utah counties. Voters here joined those in 10 other states in approving a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. And after much consternation about adding fluoride to the public water supply in Davis County, a slim majority of voters elected to keep the cavity-fighting mineral in their drinking water. But voters rejected an open-space bond initiative, presumably because of concerns over imposing a statewide sales tax or control over the tax revenue. Early poll results suggested the initiative would pass — a trend reported on these pages Wednesday — but the final returns spelled defeat.
The vast majority of incumbents were re-elected. In Salt Lake County, where Democrat Peter Corroon was elected mayor and Democrat Jenny Wilson ousted incumbent Republican Steve Harmsen for an at-large seat on the Salt Lake County Council, voters may have been saying they wanted fresh faces after a political season marred by controversy and scandal.
For the most part, Utah voters are a loyal and predictable lot. But the people elected Tuesday to represent Utahns must now do all in their power to continue to earn their constituents' respect and — as Utah's gubernatorial race demonstrated — keep the debate on issues rather than personalities.