Swallow said he has a fund-raising base that he didn't have two years ago, he has the national GOP engaged — which wasn't the case two years ago — and he is running on the coattails of President George W. Bush as well as a slate of statewide Republican candidates, including GOP gubernatorial candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. None were on the ballot two years ago.

"And I am a second-year quarterback," he said. "There are 20 or 30 things I have learned along the way that will make me a better candidate."

Swallow expects a couple of things to remain the same as two years ago. One is that Matheson will raise and spend more money, and the other is that Swallow will start the summer way down in the polls. A Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll conducted last month by Dan Jones and Associates showed him down 26 percentage points.

"Two years ago, I was 31 points down and I closed to one-half point," he said. "I expect to close stronger this time."

He'd better. A second loss to Matheson would likely spell the end of his political career, and it would likely make Matheson even more difficult to beat for a new challenger.

Swallow will be getting a lot more help this time around from Republican Party sources, primarily the Club for Growth. Two years ago, the national party saw the early poll numbers showing Swallow way down in the polls, and they were unimpressed by his fund-raising and organization. So they diverted their financial resources to other races that looked more promising.

With only 30 to 40 swing districts up for grabs nationally, the race for Utah's 2nd Congressional District is now high on the agenda, Swallow said. And Republicans will be making the case that one of the nation's most Republican states should not be sending a Democrat to Washington.

But it may not be as high on their agenda as Swallow would like to think. The National Republican Campaign Committee tends to protect incumbents as its top priority and then focus on picking up open seats as a second priority. Only if money is left over does the committee go after seats held by Democrats.

The wild card in the race could be groups unaffiliated with the Swallow or Matheson camps trying to influence the outcome of the election. These would include "issue" groups that use loopholes in the new federal campaign reform laws to attack one candidate without ever saying vote for this guy or don't vote for that guy — something that could violate the new law.