Her mom owned a flower shop in the old trolley car - where Wilson sometimes worked - and her aunt ran an ice cream parlor inside. But, mostly, it was a place to have fun - and maybe meet boys.

"I wanted to be a kid," the 41-year-old mayoral front-runner remembers. "Trolley Square was very much our hangout."

It's easy to forgive the indulgence. After all, at 11, Wilson was awash in politics: blowing up balloons during her dad's bid for Salt Lake City mayor and sharing her home with campaign staff. A few years later, she would witness Washington, D.C. And she was shuttled to Milwaukee with new Mayor Ted Wilson to meet then-President Jimmy Carter.

Hers quickly became a youth surrounded by civic service - particularly during her father's grueling run for U.S. Senate against Republican Orrin Hatch in 1982. Speeches, tours, strange dinners and campaign drudgery became the norm. And Jenny Wilson loved it.

She remembers touring places like Geneva Steel and discovering the capital's diversity after mingling with inner-city kids at mayoral events.

"I really learned that, as the daughter of the mayor, I was privileged, even though not rich," she says. "I remember seeing there were kids in the community that didn't have what I had."

Something else developed as her popular pop served two terms as mayor before narrowly losing the governor's race to Norm Bangerter in 1988: a taste for public office.

So is running simply de rigueur for the younger Wilson?

She concedes Ted Wilson's love of politics got her here, but is quick to point out, he has been out of the spotlight for two decades.

"I've got a record now," she says. "My strength is that I have delivered."

And, at just 41, it didn't take long for her to become a political power.

She started fast, working with Robert Redford at the Sundance Institute, while completing a communications degree at the University of Utah. For the job, she also spent a summer in Greenwich Village, including three days as Ted Turner's driver.

"I was just thrown into adult work while in college," she recalls. "That is where I developed the preparation for the real world."

Soon after, Wilson served as her dad's press secretary during the gubernatorial chase. Then, Washington.

She temped for the National Association of Counties, lobbied for cable TV, then joined the staff of a Democratic congressman from Oregon, pushing, among other things, light rail for Portland.

Wilson attended President Clinton's inauguration in '93 and stayed in Washington for four years, becoming chief of staff for then-Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah.

"She makes decisions pretty fast and furious," says Randy Horiuchi, who serves with Wilson on the Salt Lake County Council. "I see that as one of her strengths."

But, by 1997, now north of 30, Wilson still had wanderlust. She spent a year trekking across Europe before diving into the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard for a master's in public administration.

Wilson returned to Salt Lake City to run Democrat Dave Jones' mayoral campaign. Jones was knocked out of the primary - by fewer than 30 votes - paving the way for Rocky Anderson's first win.

From 1999 to 2002, Wilson went on to be a volunteer director under Mitt Romney for Utah's Winter Games. She remembers Romney fondly and says, under his tutelage, the Olympic culture featured a global environment and was very diverse.

"It surprises me," she says of the GOP presidential candidate's conservative platform. "It disappoints me greatly."

In July 2000, Wilson married Trell Rohovit, CEO of an enterprise software firm for Internet security. The nature of his work allows him to office anywhere - and the couple considered Wilson's beloved New York.

"It was very tempting for me," she says. "But when you have kids, your priorities change. Manhattan would be a very rough city."

Indeed, Wilson now has two young boys: Zachary, 5 and Max, 2.

The prospect of being a young mother seeking City Hall's top job occasionally has flared - fanned specifically by Anderson, who is backing Keith Christensen in the race. A series of e-mails obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune revealed a sharp-tongued exchange between Wilson and the mayor, along with responses from Ted Wilson, who defends his daughter.

Jenny Wilson dismisses the dust-up, noting she and her husband can support the kids together.

"I understand it. I know what it will be like for Zach and Max," she says. "I've lived it."

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, who was elected at the same time as Wilson in 2004, and has three young children, also can relate.

"Most of the people in office have families at one stage of life or another," Corroon says. "You make it work."

Motherhood, he insists, will not slow Wilson, who has been known to tote her tots to the County Government Center.

"She's probably one of the hardest-working people I know and also a great thinker," the Democratic county mayor adds. "She doesn't just make decisions, she thinks them through from all angles."

During her first 2 1/2 years as an at-large county councilwoman, Wilson has cemented a reputation for thorough research and building consensus. She helped usher ethics reform at the county after Mayor Nancy Workman's turbulent tenure, and she created a new subcommittee system that requires the part-time council to work policy issues even harder.

Wilson, a Democrat who is quite comfortable with the progressive label, also was the first politician in Utah to try to get insurance benefits for domestic partners of county employees. She nearly succeeded - before the city passed a similar measure - losing the bid in a GOP-controlled party-line vote at the County Council.

If elected, Wilson vows to push a progressive platform. She wants to tackle low-income challenges on the west side, promote education partnerships and push human-rights measures.

"As a mother, it breaks my heart when I see stories on television about a child who is in danger," she says. "My biggest concern is we are leaving people behind in our community."

Wilson, who worked for the nonprofit Voices for Utah Children before getting elected, also wants to bolster Anderson's environmental inroads.

She is chairwoman of an air-quality panel and pledges to push only green buildings. And she is an unwavering TRAX advocate, who repeatedly fought at the county for the airport route.

Wilson wants to bring what she calls "creative industries" - businesses brimming with young people and technology - back downtown to buoy the LDS Church's $1 billion-plus City Creek Center.

She supports liquor-law reform, but hopes to quell religious divisions and make the community more civil.

"We can coexist," she says about Mormons and non-Mormons. "We should be working to better understand us as people."

Critics rail in the race about Wilson's lack of experience. It is a sentiment not lost on County Councilman Mark Crockett, who says she has been "effective" if "given to political speech."

And he questions whether she can lead a large organization like Utah's capital.

"One of the things I would look for in a mayor is someone who has demonstrated executive leadership experience," Crockett says. "I don't know if she has that."

Still, according to each poll, Wilson has been leading the contest.

"There are some wild cards in the race," the front-runner says. "We are very committed. We are not taking it for granted."

djensen@sltrib.com