This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

— Herbert on his own: Governor now unquestioned leader — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

The governorship of Utah now belongs to Gary Herbert. No longer the man who dropped into office when Jon Huntsman left office to become ambassador to China, the Republican chief executive Tuesday won his own full four-year term in office by a comfortable margin over retired Gen. Peter Cooke.

The attorney general's office also remained in Republican hands, as the hand-picked successor to outgoing A.G. Mark Shurtleff, John Swallow, cruised to an easy victory over Weber County prosecutor Dee Smith. This is troubling, given Swallow's history of being a supplicant to questionable businesses such as the payday loan shops. But it is what it is.

Meanwhile, Salt Lake County showed itself to be a Democratic island in an overwhelmingly Republican state. That's where Ben McAdams, one of the few Democrats in the Utah Senate and an aide to Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, was well ahead of Republican Mark Crockett. If that holds, McAdams becomes the de facto leader of the party in Utah and a name to watch if the party is to spread its influence beyond the county in years to come. ...

— Mitt's state: Coattails long enough for Love? — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

Mitt Romney may have lost his chance at the White House on Tuesday, but, as expected, Utah voters showed their 2002 Olympics savior and adopted son that he's still a winner here — a big winner. That the state's six electoral votes would go to Romney, a Mormon in Mormon country, was as close to a sure thing as it gets in politics.

Indeed, with votes still to be tallied, the Republican challenger stood a chance of surpassing the record 75 percent of the state's presidential vote posted by Ronald Reagan in 1984. Also open to question late Tuesday was whether Romney's long coattails were long enough to drag right-wing Republican Mia Love to victory over Rep. Jim Matheson, who campaigned for a seventh term. ...