Say goodbye to Popular Pete. Say hello to a full slate of potential candidates seeking to take his place.

With the pledged departure of two-term Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, political hopefuls already are lining up for what could be one of Utah’s most-watched races in 2012.

Think names such as Nichole Dunn, Corroon’s second in command. Or Mike Winder, the mayor of Utah’s second-most populous city. Or Ross Romero, minority leader in the Utah Senate.

They all are thinking about running for the county’s top spot. So are other local politicians — Richard Snelgrove, Gary Ott, Mark Crockett and Sam Granato — who told The Salt Lake Tribune that they are exploring possible mayoral bids.

Granted, it’s early. The filing deadline is nearly 10 months away. But Corroon has made it clear he won’t seek re-election in a county so politically diverse that it has alternated between Republican and Democratic control of the mayor’s chair and the nine-member County Council.

“It is an open seat in arguably the most competitive county in the state,” says Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. “Politicians who are strategic and savvy wait for those open seats. They know it is hard to beat an incumbent.”

Although Monson characterizes the early jockeying as somewhat “unusual,” he says the broad interest in that seat doesn’t surprise him.

“If you want to do something,” Monson says, “this is the chance.”

So here is a look at the four Republicans and three Democrats who have expressed interest in taking that chance:

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Mark Crockett (R) • He’s a former county councilman who represented Millcreek-centered District 4 until losing his re-election bid in 2008. Crockett, management consultant by profession, sees the mayor’s seat as an opportunity to pursue some of the priorities — such as criminal-justice reform — that he was forced to leave behind. He sees his background as valuable in helping the county “do more with less.”

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Nichole Dunn (D) • She couldn’t get any closer to the mayor’s seat without being elected. After helping recruit Corroon as a 2004 mayoral candidate — she was serving as chairwoman of the county’s Democratic Party at the time — she now works as his deputy mayor. Dunn brands herself as the candidate with executive know-how, saying she understands firsthand the complexities of county government and the people it represents.

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Sam Granato (D) • He’s a small-business man who ran for U.S. Senate in 2010 as the Democratic nominee. Although the restaurateur lost to Republican Mike Lee, Granato continues to make his mark as chairman of the Utah Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. Granato defines himself by what he is not — a career politician — and says he would seek to bring his business sense to the public sector.

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