What about your political future, reporters asked?

"We can run for office again," a giddy Workman responded. "We'll see if it's irreparable."

The "it" is any lingering political scar that the former Salt Lake County mayor might have to overcome to be a viable candidate again. If she can heal all the wounds, could a rematch be in store in four years against newly minted Mayor Peter Corroon? Or might Workman chase a different office?

Workman, a Republican who plans to vacation before plunging into any campaigns, isn't committing to anything. But Corroon pounced.

"I'd love to have her as my competition [in 2008]," said the Democratic mayor, who outpolled Workman's ballot replacement, Ellis Ivory, to win the county's top job.

But at age 64 and stung by a string of controversies - including her six-figure-salaried staff and the headline-grabbing vehicle-abuse scandal - Workman could decide the road back is too long and too laborious.

"Historically, the odds are against her - not only because of her age, but also because she developed a sufficient high negative in the polls," said Tim Chambless, assistant professor of political science at the University of Utah. "Her own party asked her to drop out rather than stand by her in the election. I'm sure it has left a number of visible scars."

Chambless said another potential barrier is the lack of an immediate office for Workman to seek.

"By the time that opens up, she will be at the age most people are thinking about retirement."

Even so, Greg Skordas, a Democrat and one of Workman's defense attorneys, said he would love to see his client in politics again.

"But you take the heart out of a politician when you do something like this to her," he said.

Alan Dayton - Workman's deputy who replaced her as acting mayor when the charges forced her to the sideline - said her political will may be gone.

"I don't think she has any interest in politics anymore," Dayton said. "I might be wrong, but I don't think she will be running for office."

Political reclamation projects have had their successes, though.

A famously teary Enid Greene - Utah's 2nd District congresswoman brought down by a financial imbroglio involving her husband - has regained respectability among many GOP politicos. She even made it to the Republican primary as Nolan Karras' running mate in last year's gubernatorial race.

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini withstood a full quiver of political arrows during the Bonneville Pacific financial furor to earn re-election.

Whether Workman re-emerges as a viable candidate is up to Workman.

"She could be," said Tiani Coleman, chairwoman for the Salt Lake County GOP. "But that would be up to Nancy."

Most people assumed Workman, who held a substantial fund-raising edge and was popular in GOP circles, would coast to a second term last spring.

"Up until April, nobody in the political world thought she would lose," said Republican Michael Jensen, chairman of the Salt Lake County Council.

Had Workman remained on the ballot, she would be mayor today, according to Mike Ridgeway, a former member of the Salt Lake County Republican Central Committee.

"Voters would have put her back in," he said. "They just put Greg Curtis back in and made him speaker of the House."

Curtis, R-Sandy, and a former member of Workman's staff, had admitted charging the state for trips to and from the state Capitol in his county-funded SUV.

But Democratic Councilman Joe Hatch doubts Workman would have cruised to re-election.

He said the tide was turning against the mayor long before she was charged with felony misuse of public money in the hiring probe.

"Lots of people in the county had problems with the Workman administration that had nothing to do with the ghost employee," Hatch said.

It is that kind of partisan barb Workman must weigh before returning, said state GOP Chairman Joe Cannon.

"She will have to decide whether she wants to get back into that nasty business, namely politics."

djensen@sltrib.com

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Tribune reporter Christopher Smart contributed to this story.