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Gov. Gary Herbert said Utah is in solid shape under his leadership and accused his opponent, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, of being pessimistic and hypercritical.

But Corroon said he is "a realist" and the candidate in the race willing to acknowledge that the state needs change.

"If Gary Herbert wants to put his head in the sand and pretend we have no issues in the state of Utah, so be it," Corroon said after the first debate between the gubernatorial candidates. "Gary Herbert and some of our other state leaders are out of touch with what's going on."

Specifically, Corroon said, Utah has its highest unemployment rate in 26 years, has the fifth-highest rate of foreclosures in the country and continues to have the lowest per-pupil spending.

Herbert countered during the KUED debate: "I see the state of Utah as a glass that is mostly full. Mayor Corroon sees the glass as mostly empty." He added that Corroon's negativity is "astounding."

Utah's unemployment rate is well below the national average, and the state has seen 19,000 new jobs created in the year since Herbert took office. National publications such as Forbes have said Utah is the fittest state in the nation, Herbert said.

The disagreements weren't limited to issues, as the campaigns released clashing polls concerning who had momentum in the race.

The Herbert poll indicated that the governor maintains a 20-point lead, 55 percent to 35 percent, while the Corroon survey had the mayor trailing by 15 percentage points, half the margin that he was down in a Rasmussen Reports poll last month.

The Corroon campaign is trying to capitalize on a string of news reports focusing on the governor's big donors and questions raised by the his supporters as to whether those donors got preferential treatment from the Herbert administration.

"The citizens need to have faith their government is not being overly influenced by big political donations," Corroon said, again raising questions if Herbert's donors got special access and challenging him to return campaign contributions of more than $10,000.

Herbert fired back that if Corroon believes big donations that he has raised have impaired his ability to make decisions, the Democrat should give the money back, but Herbert denied suggestions that donors get special treatment.

"It's salacious, and it's an attack on my integrity," Herbert said.

Corroon said he isn't questioning the governor's integrity, but a pattern of meetings and contracts or tax breaks for big donors.

There was also a stark contrast between the two candidates over whether to extend legal protections against discrimination aimed at gays and lesbians.

Herbert said he supports what local governments such as Salt Lake City have done to enact anti-discrimination ordinances, but he wouldn't support the same treatment at the state level, saying Utah shouldn't tell local governments what to do.

Corroon said he backs traditional marriage but would like to see the state enact an anti-discrimination law.

"I believe every citizen has the right to live, work and be respected in their community," he said.

They also sparred over nuclear waste, with Corroon saying he would have lain down on the tracks to stop shipments of depleted uranium from going to EnergySolutions' waste disposal site in Utah's western desert. Herbert, he said, did nothing until the trains arrived and, as a result, 5,000 barrels are there in a state of limbo.

Herbert said he worked with the U.S. Department of Energy to try to set up regulations for the disposal of the depleted uranium, but he couldn't violate EnergySolutions' legal rights.

"It's one thing to have this political bravado," Herbert said, but "when you violate people's rights under the law, you violate our rights."

They traded charges over who had taken money from EnergySolutions.

Corroon said he hadn't received money for his gubernatorial race, but he has taken $1,000 in his political action committee and additional money for his mayoral campaign.

Herbert accepted money from EnviroCare, EnergySolutions' predecessor, as a Utah County commissioner but hasn't in his campaign for governor. —

The race to date

Earlier this month, the Corroon for Governor campaign raised questions about the awarding of state contracts to donors who contributed to Gov. Gary Herbert's campaign. One of the contracts — the $1.1 billion I-15 project — was given to a major Herbert contributor after Department of Transportation managers and budget officials tweaked the initial bid evaluation. It later emerged that the losing bidder was paid $13 million to settle a protest.