The longtime church leader was also often named as a man who holds great power but rarely uses it; a man who can, if he chooses, influence people behind the scenes; a man who can stop a project dead if he so desires.

Leavitt's influence seems to come from his position, his personality and now his longevity in office. In January, the 50-year-old governor started his third four-year term. Only one other Utah governor has served three terms.

Besides being the No. 2 most influential person in the state, Leavitt ranks high as a deal-maker, someone who can get something done in Utah.

Huntsman, 63, is one of the world's richest men. Forbes magazine ranks him 47th among the world's billionaires and estimated his assets in 2000 at $6.6 billion. Besides ranking third in the most-powerful category, Huntsman was also named as the second-most influential deal-maker in the state.

Pat Shea, a local attorney who worked in Washington, D.C., as a top appointee in the Bureau of Land Management under former President Bill Clinton, was not surprised at the names at the top of the Deseret News list.

But power is fluid, changing.

Commenting on the church-Huntsman-Leavitt crime-fighting effort, Shea said that disparate factions make such a convergence harder today.

"Whether it's the SLOC dispute, the takeover of First Security (Bank), the Tribune/Deseret News fight, light rail . . . all these divide the community. And very few people — Huntsman one of them — could talk to all parts of the community."

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; lucy@desnews.com