Election Ennui in Utah

By Tracy Medley, 11-09-06

While the rest of the country surfed the blue tidal wave Tuesday night, Utah voters chose to go old school…again. There were no real surprises, no shockers, no bombshells; just the same old suits making the same old acceptance speeches to the same old reporters…just like the last election and the election before that and the election before that and the… I think you get the point.

My election ennui isn’t about partisanship or even the ruling class of Repubs here; but rather the unending predictability of Utah voters and their complete failure to surprise me…ever.

Just for fun, sometimes I fantasize about what it would take to get Utah to go blue, or green or orange for that matter. “Wide-reaching, gay sex scandal involving baby otters at the Capitol building” is about the best I’ve come up with, but I’m not entirely convinced that would do it, frankly.

You see, it’s not just the ribbons of red that run deep in Utah; it’s the absolute trust that our leaders wouldn’t be leaders if they didn’t deserve it; it’s the wholesome and healthy assumption that our elected officials always have the state and the nation’s best interest at heart. This is even true for Democrats, few though they may be, elected here. Utahns believe in “family values” and they believe in politicians who, at least use those words a lot.

Unfortunately, this idyllic trust and fierce commitment to one party doesn’t leave much room for Utah to grow or to experience fresh political blood. It leaves us relying on “experience” and “seniority,” but ignores the fact that those seniors were once freshman too. Orrin Hatch did not pop out of the womb as the Senior Senator from Utah…though for those of us in our thirties and younger, it’s hard to know for sure.

My point is this; Utah is becoming a political bore. Both the national Republican and Democratic parties left our newbie candidates out in the cold because in their view, there wasn’t one “viable” race in the state. National Republicans knew they had Utah in the bag and Democrats, despite Howard Dean’s claim of a “50 state campaign,” knew they didn’t; leaving promising challengers on both sides of the aisle in Utah, high and dry. Pete Ashdown had just as much potential as John Tester in Montana; La Var Christensen really shouldn’t have lost to Jim Matheson in such a blowout; but these guys were left hanging because the rest of the nation sees Utah as one big, impenetrable red blob. Is that really what we want?

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