She discovered that sherrieswensen.net, .org, .info, .biz., and .us had been taken as well.

Then she learned electsherrieswensen, reelectsherrieswensen and numerous other versions of her name - 37 in all - had been registered to someone else in April.

Swensen, a Democrat, finally found that votesherrie.com was not taken, so she used that.

Attempts to discover who was so interested in her name to spend more than $300 for 37 different domain registrations proved fruitless. The domains are registered to "Some Girls Sites, 123 Address, Somewhere, Anywhere, 12345, Jamaica."

Because Jamaica is not subject to U.S. disclosure laws, the actual identity of the registrant was not revealed. When one logs on to one of the hijacked names, it says the site is under construction.

The registrant for the domain site of Swensen's Republican opponent, Carrie Dickson, was "Some Guy, 123 Address, Somewhere, Kawabunga, 12345, Jamaica." But on Oct. 17, carrieforclerk.com was re-registered to Committee to Elect Carrie Dickson and a Salt Lake City post office box address.

Dickson says she knows nothing about Swensen's domain sites. She says others have handled her Web site for her, so she doesn't know why the domain name was registered to the unusual address. She says she has been unable to use certain names for herself in the past because they have been taken, so it is not unusual for domains, particularly those using common names, to be taken for whatever reason.

Cutting government costs?

Several readers have called or e-mailed to say they have received through the mail two, and sometimes three, state-produced Utah Voter Information Pamphlets.

I personally have received two at my home so far.

The 68-page pamphlet covers all the election races and voter initiatives with bios of candidates in the congressional and Senate races, explanations of the initiatives and attorney-survey results of the judges up for retention.

It is produced by the Lieutenant Governor's Office and, with two or three sent to each household, gives new meaning to fiscal restraint.

The hidden costs:

Since my column item Monday noted that besides gas prices being higher in Utah than in most other states, the octane in the gas is lower here, I have received e-mails from readers pointing out the octane is lower because of the higher elevation, so the lower octane does not stress the engine as much.

But the point is, that makes for even a greater discrepancy in prices for Utah gas than the same grade of fuel in other states.

Greg Dutkowski was in Florida recently and filled up with regular there for $2.02. But that regular was 87-88 octane, which in Utah would be the mid-grade gas selling for even more than the regular here.

prolly@sltrib.com