4 House races in 2007?

If Utah succeeds in getting approval for a fourth seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, a special election would need to be held next year for all of the state's U.S. House seats, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Thursday.

"It would mean all sitting members would have to run again, just to reaffirm their status in a newly carved district," Huntsman said during the taping of his monthly KUED news conference.

Utah's three U.S. House seats are already on the November ballot. Squeezing an election some six months into the two-year term would require more campaigning and more money for both incumbents and challengers.

"It's a headache but worth it to get a fourth seat," said Charles Isom, a spokesman for Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah. Cannon, Isom said, would have no problem running again in a few months.

Scott Parker, chief of staff for Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said Bishop isn't thinking yet about the possibility of another race next year. "I'm not sure anyone would be too excited but would go through the process because of the fourth seat," Parker said.

The Republican Party, which holds two of the state's three U.S. House seats and would have a majority of voters in the new district, would limit intra-party challenges in a special election, according to Jeff Hartley, executive director of the Utah Republican Party.

He said potential candidates for a fourth-district seat are already surfacing, including several members of the Legislature. One is Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Sandy, who is running against U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, in this election.

But Todd Taylor, executive director of the Utah Democratic Party, said he wasn't sure there would be a special election to worry about. Still, he said, although incumbents would have the advantage in such a race, "anytime you roll the dice, they can pop up in a different way."

Nothing can happen, of course, until Congress approves the new seat. That could occur when Congress returns after the November elections, but only if the Utah Legislature is ready with a final map of the new districts.

The new Utah seat is part of a political compromise that would give the largely Democratic District of Columbia a vote in the House. But House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., has made it clear he wants Utah lawmakers to establish four distinct geographical U.S. House districts before he'll support the bill.

Huntsman said Thursday that he's willing to call lawmakers into special session to consider a map, but not until after Election Day. "This should not happen in a political environment," the governor said.