This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
WASHINGTON - Utah taxpayers are investing $3.5 million in a presidential primary on Feb. 5, hoping that an early election date will draw some attention from candidates who routinely skip the state during their quest for the nomination.
But Feb. 5 is earning the nickname "Super Duper Tuesday" because of the number of states holding primary contests the same day. As many as 26 states may hold a primary or caucus on that date, meaning up to 70 percent of the U.S. population may vote on a single day, according to the political news outlet The Hotline. With behemoths such as California, Florida and Michigan on that list, Utah may get lost in the confetti.
That means the candidates now visiting the state to use it as an ATM may not be returning to court votes next year.
"With all due respect to my friends there," says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, "it really doesn't matter when Utah holds its primary."
The state, with its relatively tiny population of 2.6 million, can't compete with delegate-rich states such as California and Florida. Utah's 39 GOP delegates and 28 or so Democratic delegates are winner-take-all in the state's primary, but make up just a fraction of those bigger states.
"Unfortunately I would have to say it's going to be much tougher to get the traction and the attention than when we thought about trying to have all the Rocky Mountain states on the one day," acknowledges Wayne Holland, chairman of the Utah Democratic Party.
In 2000, when Utah held its primary on March 10 as part of the touted Western States Primary, the experiment fizzled with a dismal 10 percent Utah-voter turnout. It turned out by that date then-candidate George W. Bush already had sewn up the Republican nomination. Four years later, Utah's GOP-dominated Legislature didn't even fund a primary with President Bush seeking re-election. Democrats paid for their own primary-preference poll on Feb. 24.
Combined with the fact Utah is heavily Republican and Mormon, most observers expect former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to be the Utah favorite. With that built-in handicap, many candidates might not bother trying to compete here, especially with some 25 other states potentially up for grabs on the same day.
"That's the irony of Feb. 5: All the states are moving up to guarantee some influence, and the more they move up, the less influence they'll have," Sabato said.
Still, Utah politicos are hoping Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada (the GOP primary only) choose delegates on Feb. 5, thus enabling the Rocky Mountain states to exert some pressure on candidates to pay attention to regional concerns.
"Individually, we may not be very much," says Joe Demma, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, the state's top elections official. But, "get a bunch of the little states together and it will at least generate some interest."
Still, the Utah Republican Party is gearing up for the primary, optimistic that some of the candidates will still pay attention to the Beehive State.
"We won't be lost in the crowd on Giga-Tuesday," says Jeff Hartley, executive director of the state GOP. "We may not see the candidates on the 4th or 5th, but the week before, I'll bet they'll come."
Under the parties' rules, states that hold a caucus or primary before Feb. 5 will be penalized by losing delegates at the nominating convention, so many states are planning Feb. 5 elections.
So far, Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Romney have visited Utah, and Rudy Giuliani plans to hold a fundraiser later this month. No top-tier Democratic hopefuls are expected to visit the state any time soon.