On the cover: So, it's not quite the cover of Rolling Stone. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's appearance as the cover story in the Jan. 1 issue of The Nation helps to shake the Beehive State's image as a monolithic home of anti-evolution, pro-authority polygamists by singing the praises of a twice-elected mayor who has done more than just rouse the rabble on issues from climate change to the war in Iraq. The Nation makes no pretense of being an objective publication, and the article glosses over some of the mayor's problems, particularly the high turnover rate among his staff. But such prominent play for a progressive politician so far from the nation's media centers was well-earned, and can only improve the state's image as a place where the political scales are not wholly out of balance.

Hidden costs of democracy: Everyone up and down the bureaucratic line of election management says someone else should pay the ever-higher costs of running elections under the new federal law. Everyone is right. Trustworthy elections are necessary to a democracy. The federal Help America Vote Act included many steps in that direction, but not nearly enough money to pay the cost of the new voting technologies. Locally, both the state of Utah and the various counties have been looking to one another and elsewhere for financial aid, and cities are only now learning how much they might have to cough up to run their own 2007 municipal elections. The state election office deserves much of the blame for locking us into a contract that allows Diebold Election Services to charge just about whatever it wants to because no one else can service the chosen machines. But, instead of pointing fingers at one another, all levels of government need to pay the cost now, and start looking for more competitive bids ASAP.