The Democratic Party's gains across the Rocky Mountain region have largely passed Utah by, but state Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland thinks change is coming - it just might take a while longer.

"Our underdog role has seasoned us and prepared us for fighting a little harder," Holland said. "Now, with people of Utah viewing the Legislature as arrogant and not doing the public business out in the open, it just provides us the opportunity to look at some new faces."

In Colorado, for example, Democrats are enthusiastic about the prospects for Barack Obama to win the state and pick up a U.S. Senate seat.

Utah voters are not anticipating such a sea change anytime soon.

A Tribune poll conducted last week asked likely voters to forecast Utah's political future. Fifty-two percent said they expect Republicans to continue to dominate. More telling of the Utah Democrats' mind-set, perhaps, was that 54 percent of Democrats believed they will continue to toil under GOP dominance.

"I don't think there's been the same disaffection with the Republican Party in Utah, and particularly with things that have been happening around social issues, as there has been in other places," said Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. "There's a heavily Mormon population in both [Utah and Idaho] that I think are oriented closer to Republican social values than Democratic ones."

It wasn't always the case. Democrats controlled much of the state into the mid-1970s. But as the party moved left, and with the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade and the Mormon church's opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, the GOP wrested power away. The movement crested with the Reagan Revolution in 1980, and Utah has been among the reddest states ever since.

Utah Republican Party Chairman Stan Lockhart says voters have stuck with the party because it shares the values of Utah voters.

"As long as we reflect fundamental values and principles, some call them traditional values and principles . . . then the voters can be reassured that Republicans will continue to govern in a way that represents and meets their expectations," Lockhart said.

There are, however, indications the GOP sheen in Utah may be wearing off a bit.

Quin Monson, assistant director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said polling shows voters' allegiance to Republicans is waning.

"You can see the partisan ties on the Republican side have weakened some and the Bush approval has weakened some, but we started off so firmly in the Republican column that it's hard to move voters over to the Democratic side," he said. Instead, more now consider themselves independents.

That could make a difference in local races, but those independents are unlikely to support a Democrat for president any time soon, Monson says.

That hasn't stopped the Obama campaign from trying. Earlier this month, the campaign's Utah director arrived in the state, and the campaign opened a Utah office Friday, which has not been done in recent memory.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, Obama's campaign co-chairman, said the goal is to force Republicans to defend their traditional strongholds and exploit Obama's record fundraising.

"If you don't try, you will never know," Daschle said.

The Obama strategy builds on the Democratic national party's initiative launched three years ago to pump up the parties in all 50 states.

Utah Democrats have been able to hire three staffers and received a total of about $250,000 worth of aid this year. Holland says it helped the party recruit better candidates willing to face long odds, lose, learn and run again.

Rep. Jim Matheson, the state's top elected Democrat, says Utah's surging population, coupled with weakened party loyalties, could set the stage for a political shift.

"The electorate in this country is becoming less tied to a particular political party," he said. "There is more volatility across the country and that may translate to Utah as well."

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has another theory about what might change Utah's dynamic. He predicted in 2006 that Mitt Romney would probably be "the most talented person" in the presidential field in either party, but evangelical opposition would deny him the nomination.

"Given the fact that the Republican Party has effectively repudiated a great candidate for president based on his religion, I would expect that large numbers of people in both Utah and Idaho would look again at Western Democrats as a new way to go."

Lockhart says Schweitzer, to put it politely, is "full of baloney."

"The electorate in this country is becoming less tied to a particular political party. There is more volatility across the country and that may translate to Utah as well."

Rep. Jim Matheson, Utah's top elected Democrat, on the party's future in the state.