This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Sen. Mike Lee had a rough start to his U.S. Senate career, and it was entirely of his own making.

In the first two years, he had to short sell his house after the housing market tumbled. He joined Sen. Ted Cruz in a quixotic failed attempt to hold up all of government to get a vote on Obamacare. He boldly proclaimed on the Senate floor in 2012 that gasoline would cost more than $6 per gallon if President Obama was re-elected.

By late 2013, more than half of Utah voters had an unfavorable view of him, and there were rumblings in the Utah GOP about dumping him for another Republican in this election.

That never happened, and now Lee is in the homestretch of the campaign with a comfortable lead over his Democratic challenger. He still clings to some losing ideas, but it appears he has tempered that with more respect for the legislative process.

Exhibit A in that change is Lee's work on criminal justice reform. Lee worked with Democrats like Sens. Pat Leahy and Dick Durbin on a reform bill that would reduce draconian minimum-mandatory sentences. Lee has been a key influencer in bringing law-and-order conservatives around to realizing what really works in dealing with criminals, and it's more than just locking them up.

Experience, particularly experience like that, gives Lee the small edge over his Democratic opponent, Misty K. Snow.

It would be a shame if Snow loses this race and decides she's had enough. The 31-year-old Harmon's cashier may have bitten off too much by making her first entree into politics a U.S. Senate campaign, but you can't argue that she is uninformed. Snow's performance in interviews and debate has been powerful. She is well versed in multiple issues and speaks eloquently and forcefully on everything from Social Security reform to defense policy.

If Snow were to win this year, she would be more of a rarity than just a Utah Democrat in the U.S. Senate (which hasn't happened since 1976). She would also be the only transgender senator, and the only one who could be considered a millennial. Politics, and specifically Utah politics, needs voices like Snow's, particularly ones who do their homework as well as she has, but she hasn't had enough real-world political experience for the U.S. Senate.

Lee is still a work in progress, too. He pushed hard for his "First Amendment Defense Act" to give churches protections they already have against a threat that hasn't manifested. He still blames the news media for not blaming President Obama for the shutdown, but even his fellow Republicans blamed him and Cruz. And his defense of the Senate's refusal to consider Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland is obstructive, saying the Senate has the right to refuse and Garland is too liberal anyway.

Lee has come far enough in six years to earn another term, but he still has far to go.