McCoy

Raised nearly $76,000 spent more than $47,000

Top contributors include:

Bruce Bastian $7,500

Jon Stryker, Kalamazoo, Mich., $5,000

Exoro Group $2,836

Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund $2,100

Equality Utah $1,250

Jarvis

Raised $32,000, spent more than $16,000

Top contributors include:

Jarrett and PraticiaJarvis, Phoenix, $2,200

Joe Jarvis $2,000

Republican Senate Campaign Committee $2,000

Utah Orthopedic Society $2,000

Utah Medical PAC $1,050

No matter which major-party candidate wins the Nov. 7 election, residents in Salt Lake City's Senate District 2 are guaranteed to have a strong advocate of health-care reform representing them in the Capitol.

In fact, it's pretty much all the hopefuls are talking about on the campaign trail.

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Scott McCoy feels so strongly about the issue he promises to push a constitutional amendment guaranteeing every Utahn quality, affordable health care.

His opponent, Republican Joe Jarvis, is a physician who warns that the crisis of spiralling costs and decreasing health-care access will be solved sooner - by decisive government action - or later "when the whole system collapses in on itself."

He is cool to the idea of a constitutional amendment, believing that would be a largely symbolic move. Instead, Jarvis said the fastest way to force major improvements in health-care accessibility and costs is to open up to small businesses the health plan finance structure now restricted to Utah's public employees.

At a time when health-care costs are increasing five times faster than Utah wages, the Public Employees Health Program is "an enormous success" for its 180,000 members, Jarvis says. Extending the nonprofit plan to small businesses would permit comprehensive coverage for tens of thousands more of the 420,000 uninsured residents in the state.

McCoy agrees with that proposal, but wants to extend it even further, opening up Public Employees coverage to individuals as well as small companies.

So if the two agree on what they consider the most important issue facing the state, why run against one another?

The realities of partisan politics.

"One of the problems is that we have a Republican super-majority," and have had for two decades, says McCoy. Because the GOP Legislature "has not shown a willingness to work on this problem in a meaningful way," he says the solution is to change the majority party.

McCoy, an attorney, is standing for his first election after being appointed in 2005 to replace longtime Democratic Sen. Paula Julander, who retired for health reasons. The arrival of the state's first openly gay senator caused something of a flap among conservative colleagues early on, but the controversy died fairly quickly.

Jarvis, for one, says sexual orientation is not an issue in the race.

McCoy plugs some of his other legislative initiatives in the campaign, including the so-called "pill bill" that would require insurance companies that cover prescription drugs to also cover contraceptives. He also intends to run a bill that would ban smoking in automobiles in which small children are passengers and one that would address proper disposal of old computers and other "e-waste."

For his part, Jarvis focuses almost laser-like on health care.

He blames both parties for failing to do anything about the growing crisis, and are far too beholden to or intimidated by the insurance industry - which he singles out as the biggest obstacle to health-care reform.

But he says there is no getting around the fact that Republicans "are the majority. That will continue to be the case in the foreseeable future," Jarvis said. "I think I could be there articulating" the issue.

If there is to be any action on expanding Public Employees Health Program coverage beyond government employees, "we are certainly going to have to have Republican sponsorship."