"There's just a lot to do. It's a significant balancing act," Herbert said. "It started right off. I was elected Tuesday night, got home to bed at 3 a.m. and had breakfast meetings at 7 a.m. that morning."

For the first time in his political life, he has an unlisted phone number because of the number of calls from people asking favors. He's being asked to speak at numerous functions.

Herbert says he'll miss working in Utah Valley — where his family has lived and done business for some six decades.

"I'm going to miss just being absorbed with Utah County," he said. "I'll miss the ability to make things happen in a relatively short period of time.

"Here, we can come up with an idea Tuesday and pass and fund it the next week. What I'm going to have to learn in this job is patience. You get a great idea that you then have to convince the Legislature to fund. It moves a lot slower, for good reason, but a lot slower."

Fellow commissioner Steve White has worked with Herbert for two years.

"Philosophically, he's always been pretty much on the right side of things," White said, "If Gov. Huntsman's wise, he'll use him to lobby the Legislature."

For his part, Huntsman said Herbert's extensive local ties was chief among reasons he asked him to join the tickcet. "He brings experience that is different than mine. I think between the two of us, we basically run the gamut of public policy experience."

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