This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Posted: 8:46 AM- Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is preparing to send paid campaign staff to Utah, one of the nation's most reliably Republican states.
Utah hasn't voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964, when Lyndon Johnson was on the ballot.
In 2004, President Bush won with 72 percent of the vote.
Obama's volunteers say they're hopeful the paid staff can help stop a predictable Republican route and make presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain spend resources defending the state.
Obama won Utah's February primary.
