"I have to say that I agree with (Romney) when he talks about it not being a good thing that Utah is a one-party state" and so heavily Republican, Taylor said.

But Romney spokesman Kevin Madden says Romney's comments about a one-party state were made when he was running for governor of Massachusetts, "where he was warning of the dangers of one party, the Democrats, controlling all aspects of government in Massachusetts. It was not a proxy argument about any other state.

"It was in the context of a gubernatorial race" in Massachusetts, not in Utah, Madden said.

Madden cited the heavy contributions Utahns have made to Romney's campaign, with the state ranking second in the nation behind California for the last reporting period.

Madden doesn't believe the Democrats' latest advertisement will have an impact on Utah donations. And Romney was not dissing Utah or its one-party GOP reality in those comments, Madden said.

Rather, the "Democratic Party brass here in Massachusetts have decided to target Mitt Romney because they see him as the greatest threat to them in 2008. This is a case of them directing a lot of anger toward Governor Romney because he has arguably the most impressive record of any Republican in this (presidential) race.

"He's the candidate that is going to bring conservative change to Washington. And it is in the Democrats' interest to protect the status quo in Washington," Madden said.

Stan Lockhart, Utah GOP chairman, said he had no opinion on the new advertisement on Romney. Lockhart said the Utah GOP will support the ultimate Republican nominee, and he couldn't say whether the anti-Romney ad would help or hurt Romney among Utah Republicans.

Taylor agrees with Madden's view on Romney's Utah fund raising — the new Massachusetts Democratic ad may not impact Romney's popularity here, or his fund raising, mainly because Utah donations to Romney are coming from Utahns who got to know him personally during the Olympics, Taylor said, and are given based on that personal, not necessarily political, connection.

A February poll for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV by Dan Jones & Associates found that Romney was the pick of 45 percent of all Utahns for president, with the list of hopefuls still broad. But he was favored by 63 percent of Utah Republicans — huge numbers so early for the 2008 election.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com