Utahns gear up for Demo primary

That means, of course, the national focus is on the "Super Tuesday" contests in New York, California and eight other states on March 2 that will choose 1,151 delegates — nearly one-third of the total available nationwide.

Still, the party faithful here believe there's enough at stake that the candidates should be making campaign swings through Utah, or at least sending big-name surrogates to rally support.

"Am I going to be disappointed if the they don't come? Yeah," state Democratic party chairman Donald Dunn said. "What I don't want is for it to send the perception that the West doesn't matter. I don't think that's what they believe."

He said the party needs to establish a Western states primary, when all the states in the region would go to the polls on the same day.

Either candidate would have been smart to come to Utah, said Maura Carabello, Edwards' spokeswoman here. "I think you are a savvy campaign if you focus on a state like Utah where you'll get a lot of votes just for showing up."

She hasn't had much luck convincing the Edwards camp that Utah is worth the effort, even though a visit by the candidate could be the difference between a first- and a second-place finish. So far, Edwards has won just one state, South Carolina.

"They have an awareness of (the opportunity). They've talked about that, and that this is a good state for them," Carabello said last week.

"This would be a huge win for him. It's a small enough arena that you could do it," she said.

So small, in fact, that Edwards has no campaign organization in Utah except for Carabello, a member of the state party's executive committee who was recruited to represent him.

An Edwards campaign bus was spotted in Cedar City last week, but The Associated Press reported that Utah was only a lunch stop on the driver's way to Los Angeles, where he was set to pick up the senator.

Five members of Kerry's campaign staff are in Utah for the primary, but they're maintaining a low profile. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is making an appearance in Idaho, and although there was talk that Robert Kennedy Jr. might have been headed to Utah to campaign for him, the only Democrat coming is Henry Cisneros, who served as Bill Clinton's housing secretary.

Cisneros, one of the party's most prominent Hispanics, is scheduled to appear on behalf of Kerry at the Utah Democrat's annual fund-raising dinner tonight. He may also make a public appearance.