It will take us three years to find out, and the answer will say at least as much about Utah as it does about its governor. But neither outcome stands to be reassuring.

The governor let drop the other day that he was planning to run for re-election in 2008 without raising any money. As in none. As in no gala dinners, no celebrity golf tournaments, no $500-for-a-plate-of-cold-eggs-and-bacon breakfasts. Just a check for $520.50 for his filing fee and off to the races, seeking a second term based on his record, his promises and his well-known name.

Well. A candidate eager to be judged by his record and platform, not how many times his face can appear on TV ads, billboards and balloons, has a genuine democratic ring about him.

A cashless Huntsman would be spared the hassle and humiliation of endlessly asking old friends and total strangers to give him money. He wouldn't have to face the risk of getting money from someone who, totally unbeknownst to him, turned out to be a porn-marketing deadbeat dad. And his youngest daughter could file his campaign finance disclosure forms for him.

Such a campaign could claim to be beholden to no one but the citizens of Utah.

But, back in the real world, we have to question the political competence of anyone who would choose to take a feather to a gunfight. Especially when the last gunfight cost him $3 million.

In politics, the first rule is to expect the unexpected. Any number of scandals, disasters, funding crunches or culture war battles could occur between now and then. The most necessary and wise of gubernatorial platforms could have been stalled by a stonewalling Legislature.

Candidate Huntsman will have to get his message out and respond to attacks, half-truths and distortions of his record. That will take a lot more than $520, and put Huntsman in the position of breaking his free-campaign promise.

Or, worse, Huntsman's assumption is that the power of incumbency and his position atop the state's only viable political party means that he has no need to raise campaign funds because there isn't going to be anything resembling a campaign.

All he'll need is what he'll get - just a lot of free media coverage for everything he says, does, thinks and scratches because, after all, he is the governor.

But that's not a democracy.