Delegate Beverly White, a former state legislator from Tooele, said she's more confident now about Kerry's showing in Utah next November.

"I think there are a lot of people in Utah who are anti-war and think (Bush) lied or that he just didn't know," White said.

That should make it easier for them to consider voting for a Democrat for president, she said, even if it "isn't an 'I love Kerry' thing but an 'I hate Bush' thing."

But Nancy Woodside, vice chairman of the Utah party, said the voters she's talked to aren't comfortable with electing a new commander in chief during the ongoing war in Iraq.

"They're almost afraid to vote for Kerry," Woodside said. "They're afraid it will leave us weak and vulnerable."

Utahns can expect to see a Kerry campaign office open sometime next month. But there won't be television advertising in the state and an appearance by the candidate is highly unlikely.

The Kerry campaign's research director, Mike Gehrke, is a Utahn. Gehrke told the Utah delegation on Thursday that the campaign is depending on them "to get the real message out" about Kerry.

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