Webb: Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman is a fighter. Her detractors consistently underestimate her fighting spirit, hard work and perseverance.

Assuming County Attorney David Yocom files felony charges (not filed at the time of this writing), Workman now faces the fight of her life on two fronts: legal and political. She should continue to fight aggressively on the legal front. But it's time to concede the political battle, her bid for re-election.

For Republicans, this is the worst of all scenarios. Labor Day is tomorrow. Eight weeks to go, and Republicans have a severely damaged candidate who probably can't win but who wants to stay on the ballot. They face a difficult, if not impossible, process to replace her, especially if she refuses to drop out. They could run a write-in candidate, but winning write-in campaigns is extraordinarily rare.

It's a recipe for a win by Democrat Peter Corroon, a weak candidate who would otherwise be fairly easy to defeat.

I don't see any plausible way for Workman to win unless Yocom declines to file charges. She can argue that the allegations are all politically motivated, but that simply won't wash with most voters, given the bipartisan nature of the panel recommending charges. By continuing the campaign, she not only hurts herself but also her party and other candidates.

She could try to resolve things quickly by agreeing to a plea bargain, but that still leaves her severely wounded.

In her Wednesday press conference, Workman said her integrity is more important than the election. It surely is. So she should fight her heart out for her integrity through the legal system and get the heck out of politics in the meantime.

I don't know the details or the legal facts of the allegations. I doubt that she did anything to benefit herself or her daughter financially. I believe her heart was in the right place, that she really was trying to "help the kids," as she puts it.

She acknowledges she didn't follow proper procedures. At what point her mistakes became a felony, I don't know, and a court will have to decide. But in the political arena, the nuances don't matter.

With the other county scandals, she faced a tough re-election anyway. She simply can't win with felony charges hanging over her head, especially if she's on forced administrative leave. Voters aren't going to elect a mayor who might end up in jail.

Best chance for the Republicans, with so little time left, is to have a prominent, high-profile Republican with a lot of stature and substance ride in on a white horse, create a lot of excitement and sense of urgency (like Mitt Romney did with the Olympics), and save the day. GOP insiders say they have a person or two in mind. But it would necessitate Workman exiting the ballot, which she refuses to do.