Despite winning two statewide elections, Gary Herbert is not a household name. The lieutenant governor's daughter-in-law, Carmen Rasmusen, the former "American Idol" finalist, is better known. Yet Herbert will become the state's chief executive if the U.S. Senate confirms Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. as ambassador to China.

That lack of notoriety could be a blessing or a curse. Herbert would come to the governor's chair with a mostly blank slate.

We surmise that Huntsman chose Herbert to be his running mate in 2003 to shore up his right flank. Huntsman had never held elected office, and despite his famous name, vast wealth and service to both presidents Bush, Republican conservatives distrusted him. In Herbert, a Utah County commissioner for 14 years, the ticket gained an experienced local official from the heart of Mormon Utah with solid social conservative bona fides.

In office, and in Huntsman's shadow, Herbert stayed true to his political pedigree. Huntsman rightly took the lead with six other governors in the Western Climate Initiative. Herbert, by contrast, says the jury is still out on human-caused climate change. Huntsman supports civil unions and other human rights initiatives for gays. Not Herbert. Because of those positions, he was a natural point man for the Huntsman administration with rural Utah.

On some social issues, Huntsman punted. He gave only lukewarm support to the bad idea of vouchers for private schools, but he signed the law, which was ultimately overturned by referendum. He also signed SB81, the ill-advised immigration law. And he supported Amendment 3, which defined marriage in Utah as between a man and a woman.

Apart from the social agenda, Huntsman is a traditional, what's-good-for-business Republican. His primary goals were helping the Utah economy grow, which he pursued vigorously by bringing economic development directly into his office, pushing a modified flat income tax through the Legislature and campaigning successfully to eliminate the private club oddity from Utah liquor law.

Whether Herbert will continue in this mold, we don't know.

On social issues, though, we don't expect Herbert to change. That will be unfortunate for the state, because in some instances, Huntsman acted as a counterweight to the pull of the right.

But sometimes an office makes the man. With Gary Herbert, we'll have to wait and see.