Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. traveled to Santa Fe on Tuesday where he and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced a Feb. 5 date for their proposed Western states presidential primary in 2008.

Utah and New Mexico are committed to holding elections or caucuses that day, Huntsman said, and Arizona is expected to have an early primary, too. He said that's enough participation to justify the election's price tag of up to $900,000 for Utah taxpayers.

"I hope we get three more," Huntsman told the Deseret Morning News after returning from the brief visit with Richardson. "I would argue that having three today, which is where we are, is sufficient critical mass."

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano did not participate in Tuesday's announcement. Her spokeswoman, Jeanine L'Ecuyer, said she "has expressed interest in this. . . . Anything that allows Western voices to be heard is an interesting idea that deserves further exploration."

The Western Governors Association, now headed by Napolitano, has agreed to encourage a regional primary, L'Ecuyer said. But she said Napolitano, a Democrat like Richardson, has yet to make a decision on whether to support the proposed primary.

Richardson said during a news conference with Huntsman in Santa Fe that "for too long, the West has been a fly-over region and Western issues have not been emphasized," the Associated Press reported.

That will change, Richardson said, according to the wire service, "if we're successful in putting together several Western states." Huntsman said later those states could include Montana, Nevada and Idaho.

Utah's Republican governor brought along legislative and political leaders from both parties to New Mexico to sell them on the idea of a multistate primary intended to attract presidential candidates — and the money spent on their campaigns — to the region.

Utah Senate President John Valentine said he returned "excited about the prospect" of a regional primary. "To me, it's more than just an economic development engine," Valentine said. "It's a way of getting Western issues before the candidates and national media."

The Feb. 5, 2008, date would follow the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary that traditionally kick off the start of the presidential race.

Valentine said he'll brief the GOP Senate caucus next week about the proposal. He said a vote on the funding needed to pay for the primary, estimated by the governor at between $500,000 and $900,000, likely would come during the 2006 Legislature.

The money generated from getting presidential candidates to hire campaign staffs, buy advertising and travel in the state should "more than offset the small cost," Valentine said, based on New Mexico's experience in 2004.