Two-time U.S. ambassador Huntsman has an address book full of diplomatic contacts all over Asia, and dignitaries from several countries - including Vietnam, Cambodia, India and Pakistan - plan to attend his swearing-in ceremony Monday.

But the history of Asia is such that Huntsman's first day in

office is fraught with peril. China and Taiwan have been on the verge of war for more than 50 years. And India and Pakistan periodically engage in a game of nuclear chicken.

"International politics 101," Huntsman says. "Welcome to my world."

It probably would have been easier to avoid the potential conflict altogether. But Utah's governor-elect apparently is energized by danger - be it international brinkmanship or the prospect of four years at the helm of state government. He will try to bring Utahns along for the ride in a relatively brisk, 10-minute speech at noon in Abravanel Hall.

"I'm not a station keeper. I'm not a status quo person. I'm an agent of change," Huntsman declares. "Change is good. It carries with it new opportunity and new hope. If folks don't like that, they can toss me out of office after four years."

Gutsy words for a man embarking on his first elective office. But Huntsman says he is not trying to build a political career. He wants to do things differently. And he suggests inauguration day will set a revolutionary tone for the next four years.

University of Utah political scientist Matt Burbank figures Huntsman's speech might sound a lot like former President Reagan's 1981 inaugural address, when Reagan verbally ushered in an era of dramatic change from his Democratic predecessor. Huntsman is a Republican who wants to distinguish himself from decades of GOP leaders who came before him - and particularly the cautious Mike Leavitt and Olene Walker years.

"This was a campaign theme he used over and over again," Burbank says.

One of Huntsman's first attempts to do things differently - delivering his State of the State address at the Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore - already has irritated lawmakers.

But Huntsman is undaunted by the possibility of shaking up state government, quietly preparing a legislative agenda that may raise lawmakers' hackles by pushing government ethics reforms and dent his popularity with the public by trying to overhaul Utah's tax system.

The self-described "risk taker" suggests legislation to limit elected state executives - including the governor and attorney general - to two terms, require monthly financial disclosures during elections, cap campaign donations and set a two-year "cooling off" period before the governor or other executives can become lobbyists. Acknowledging he was the "most egregious violator" of Utah's "wide-open" campaign donation laws, Huntsman says he knows the problems of paying for campaigns better than most.

"You have to live it to really understand it," he says. "And you have to understand it to make informed decisions."

Huntsman could ruffle legislators depending on which parts of Gov. Olene Walker's $8 billion budget and tax reform plan he picks up. Walker proposed cutting corporate sales taxes, adopting a flat income tax, charging sales taxes on services and increasing property taxes.

Walker has continued to press Huntsman and legislators to consider her tax plan while they have a projected $370 million surplus to pad the budget, although she says she won't be hanging over Huntsman's shoulder. "The last thing he needs is a former governor telling him what to do," she says.

In spite of lawmakers' cool reception to Walker's plan, Huntsman has bought into the idea. The governor-elect says he will adopt parts of the plan that make Utah more competitive with its neighbors in the battle for business.

"Tax reform is something that I feel very strongly about," Huntsman says. "If it's good public policy, I'm going to support it. There's a lot of good in [Walker's] tax proposal. Sure, there will be some changes around the edges. But if it's good public policy, I'm going to support it."

Along with tax and ethics reform, Huntsman plans to tackle two perennial problems for Utah governors: economic development and education funding.

In the next decade, 140,000 new school children will enroll in kindergarten, straining an already strapped public education system. Huntsman proposes consolidating state trust lands for sale or development to generate money for education. He also supports some form of legislation to give a tax credit to parents who send their children to private schools.

The governor-elect says he will continue Walker's county-by-county wilderness assessment. Huntsman believes commuter rail is one of the most important legacies of his generation. He also proposes new "quality growth" policies, including starting discussions with local governments about setting growth boundaries.

Despite Huntsman's ambitious plans to transform government, those who have held the office before him caution that Utah demographics will limit how much he can do.

Although income tax and sales tax revenues are up, former Gov. Norm Bangerter believes Huntsman faces an economic quandary similar to the 1980s recession Bangerter struggled to turn around. And the sheer numbers of Utah children will always define a governor's job.

"It's a time of change," says Bangerter, a Republican who served eight years. "But no matter how things change, they tend to remain the same. The realities of the budget are there. He's got a school population bubble coming at him. They're the same challenges that have been dealt with by his predecessors and will have to be dealt with by his successors."

The governor-elect acknowledges the inherent limitations of his office. But Huntsman says he is dedicated to poking at conventional wisdom, making Utahns think beyond the box of education funding and highway construction.

Daring to back potentially unpopular policies is dangerous for politicians worried about re-election. It's a calculated risk - like inviting ambassadors from traditionally hostile nations to the inauguration.

If each diplomat shows up - the Sri Lankan ambassador is trying to handle the humanitarian disaster looming over his country in the wake of last week's tsunami - inauguration organizers have a plan for keeping them apart. The Chinese and Taiwanese delegations probably will sit on separate sides of Abravanel Hall's balcony. And the Indian and Pakistani ambassadors will be assigned two different security guards charged with keeping them apart at a dignitaries-only reception after the swearing-in.

"Those security guys know to stay away from each other. They know the political ramifications," says Mike Deaver, inauguration director. "We're doing our best to keep it as polite as possible."

Polite, with lots of pomp: an invocation by the Rev. Michael A. Kouremetis of the Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral, benediction by LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, patriotic songs by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Ruffles and Flourishes by the 23rd Army Band and a 19-gun salute.

Whatever happens on inauguration day, former Gov. Cal Rampton says Huntsman would be wise not to worry about public relations and instead do what has to be done. "The good, successful governors we've had in this state have tried to make the job speak for itself," says the three-term Democrat.

Huntsman says that's what he intends. He figures he has a "bank account" of political capital built up from his November election. Critical of previous (unnamed) governors' "tendency to hoard political capital," he promises to "spend" that good will pushing for sometimes unpopular initiatives.

"If in four years, you find my bank account is empty, but our economy is stronger, I will consider it a success," he says. "If in four years, we have better-paid teachers and more supplies in the classroom and infrastructure to meet our growth and I have zero in the bank account, then I will consider that a success.

"If all that happens and I'm not re-elected, I'll still shout, 'Hip-hip hooray, we accomplished something.' We may not be as politically popular as we might like to be, but we will have accomplished something."