SALT LAKE CITY —
Overheard in Utah:
Michael Bloomberg has money, so he’s buying the election.
Pete Buttigieg is a media darling. He’s had 10 televised town hall meetings at the expense of others.
Tulsi Gabbard is the victim of a media blackout, so can’t get traction.
Bill Weld is a Republican candidate for president, taking on Donald Trump. But nobody knows that.
And Donald Trump? He hasn’t been here in a while, but he has plenty of support. He received a vote of confidence from House Speaker Brad Wilson and Senate President Stuart Adams in a citation noting the strength of the economy and the president’s federal tax package, among other things.
And then there are those guys on the street selling Make America Great Again hats and shirts. I had lunch with them this week (they’re friends of mine) and they said the reception as people come by the booth has been overwhelmingly positive: “Keep up the good work,” they’re told by passersby.
So, welcome to the week in presidential politics that promises to only get more interesting as the state inches toward its primary election day March 3.
Bloomberg took the stage in Salt Lake City Thursday morning, following his toe-to-toe debate battle with fellow Democratic presidential candidates in Las Vegas. After making a few well-placed Utah references about the beauty of the mountains — ”This (really) is the place” — he said simply:
“So how was your night last night?”
Bloomberg’s first debate performance was widely panned and he was noting that reaction. Among the day-after headlines that followed were these: “Despite his Billions Bloomberg Busts”; ”Will Bloomberg Save or Sink the Democrats?” “Warren’s Devastating Takedown of Bloomberg Goes Viral.” And this tweet early Thursday from President Donald Trump: “Mini Mike Bloomberg’s debate performance tonight was perhaps the worst in the history of debates.”
And yet the crowd cheered for Bloomberg in Utah, just as they did Monday for Pete Buttigieg, who greeted thousands at a town hall rally after being introduced and gaining the endorsement of Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. And there were cheers in Provo Saturday with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii congresswoman who has her own complaints about what she calls a national media blackout for candidates like her. Low poll numbers have kept her off of the debate stage. And with Bloomberg as the new kid on the block, there’s been little room for Gabbard.
She walked into the Deseret News Saturday afternoon for interviews with our journalists just as the Nevada caucuses got underway.
“Caucuses are difficult,” she said, when asked why she was spending the weekend in Utah and not stumping for the 36 delegates up for grabs in Nevada. “I am making strategic decisions,” which is why she traveled down to Provo for the 4 p.m. town hall meeting, noting it would be before the BYU-Gonzaga basketball showdown. That’s competition for audience she’s happy to avoid.
She’s trying to be competitive on Super Tuesday, when Utah has 29 delegates connected to the primary and voters from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia also go to the polls.
Gabbard did tours in Iraq and Kuwait as part of the Hawaii Army National Guard and has strong views on U.S. military intervention overseas. She says she‘s not an isolationist, but wants American troops out of Afghanistan and wants to put an end to “wasteful regime-change wars.”
What other message does she have for Utahns?
“We need to heal the divides in our country. We are facing an incredibly divisive time, and it will require both strong leadership that puts service to the American people and our country first, and every one of us as Americans taking action to bridge those divides,” she said.
Buttigieg was decidedly anti-Trump as he worked to inspire his crowd Monday.
“The Senate may have been the jury then, but the verdict is up to us now and we get the last word. ...That’s why so much depends on us choosing the right Democratic nominee,” he said.
Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts running in the Republican primary, has no illusions about his own chance at victory. But this long-time candidate (successful runs for governor, failed runs for the Senate and the vice presidency in 2016 as a Libertarian candidate), said he had to plant a flag.
And what is that flag?
“The flag is decency. The flag is integrity,” he said.
Will all of this make any difference? President Trump brings out strong emotions among supporters and detractors. But he remains the Republican choice in Utah.
The Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll earlier this month found 54% of all Utahns approve of the president, while 45% disapprove. Both numbers are up 1 percentage point from previous polling. It also showed that 80% of Utah Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing.
So no matter how many Democratic candidates come into the Deseret News newsroom during the next few weeks, the boys on the street are expecting strong sales — for Trump gear.