Asked what his major accomplishment has been over the past 5 1/2 years at Utah's major party post, Cannon said when he first took over in 2001 "there were any number of tensions" among different GOP factions. He said he believes he's calmed some of those by trying to have a more open party decisionmaking process.

On the political front, Cannon has overseen a large-candidate field for the 2004 governor's race and seen GOP incumbents and candidates win races up and down the ballot.

And it was during Cannon's tenure that the party decided to close primary elections to only registered Republicans, even though Cannon was opposed to the move.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a Republican, believes Cannon "was an effective chairman for our party," the governor's spokesman, Mike Mower, said. "We're pleased here in Utah Republicans were able to hold their own in the last election. Part of that success needs to be attributed to our state party and our state party chairman, Joe Cannon."

Utah's senior Sen. Orrin Hatch praised Cannon for "his strong leadership and reasonable voice.

"Joe has been a terrific leader of the Utah Republican Party."

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