Already, Mike Martinez, the special prosecutor that Democratic County Attorney Dave Yocom has hired to prosecute Workman, has asked for a gag order to keep all parties from discussing the case, alleging, among other things, that Workman's new TV ads, which claim her prosecution is politically motivated, are a gross attempt to taint the jury pool.

Clearly, no judge will try to limit Workman's political speech.

But Skordas recognizes that an aggressive Workman re-election campaign may harm his ability to give her the best defense. Normally, he said, "I tell my clients not to say anything in public."

Well, Workman can't do that and run a re-election campaign.

But she also doesn't have to walk out on a live radio interview.

Skordas candidly said if Workman can't get to trial and be found innocent, she can't win re-election.

But there's a real possibility that Workman could get to trial, have the charges dismissed against her, and still lose re-election. Remember, she wasn't doing that well in the polls even before she was charged.

Workman's administration may have cut taxes three times (as she likes to point out), but it was also on her watch that several of her top aides and the elected county auditor abused the county car policy, on her watch that other scandals outside of her office, but in county government, broke, and on her watch that she gave big pay raises to her top staffers (before they were found to be improperly using their county cars).

At its heart, Workman's TV ad campaign asks county voters to dismiss Yocom's prosecution "as just politics."

But that means the voters also have to buy into an even more far-reaching, sinister idea: that the county district attorney is corrupt, for only a corrupt prosecutor would file charges against someone for partisan political reasons.

And I don't believe we've ever seen a political campaign based on the premise that a prosecutor is corrupt — that in a county with 40 percent of the state's population a person can't get justice.

Think about that for a moment.

It's a very serious charge. And to get voters past the felony complaints against her — to look at her record as county mayor — that is what Workman is alleging.

Will a plurality of voters buy it?

And if they do, and she's re-elected, where does that leave citizen confidence in justice in the county?

Come Nov. 2, the mayoral vote in Salt Lake County may not only be about Nancy Workman, but a far more complex and deeper vote, as well.

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Deseret Morning News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com