"Seeing the ethnic diversity in this city just blows my mind. It's unbelievable. I've really loved that," he says. "I hate to use the word 'liberalize,' but whoever you are, after you go through this experience of running for mayor or doing anything else like this, you become a lot more liberal about everything you think about. You cannot stay in that little sheltered, know-it-all box."

Then there's his new exposure to technology since a meeting with Midvale Mayor Joanne Seghini. "She said, 'Well, you're going to need a Web site.' To be really honest, I didn't know exactly what she meant. Is that sad? I'm older — that thing just passed me by. But we got this Web site."

His favorite thing about the campaign so far? The other candidates. "They're all nice people," he says. In fact, when fellow candidate John Renteria landed in jail recently for violating his probation on an old traffic offense, Hughes paid him a visit. The two didn't know each other before the campaign; now each man calls the other a great friend.

"It's like the Lord said: 'Knock and it shall be opened unto you,"' he says. "I'm knocking on the door to become mayor. I'm not sure that's the door I'm going to go through, but some other door down the street there has been opened — in friendship, in learning how to use the Web site and all of the things I have done, and meeting these people from all over the planet who live right here in Salt Lake City. And I'm not kidding, they're the nicest people."

J.P. Hughes

• Born 1942 in Spanish Fork

• Married to Elaine Jones Hughes

• Six children, 14 grandchildren

Education

• B.S. in biology, Brigham Young University, 1965

• M.D., University of Utah, 1969

• Internship, general surgery training, LDS Hospital, 1969-1972

Career

• Solo private surgical practice at St. Marks and Cottonwood hospitals since 1976

Politics

• Ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress, 1976

• Ran unsuccessfully for State Board of Education, 1978

• Ran unsuccessfully for Utah Republican Party chairman, 1987

• Ran unsuccessfully for Utah Legislature, 1988

Community service

• Utah Medical Association Immunization Action Committee chairman, 1976-1978

• Utah Cancer Society president, 1980-1981

• Utah Medical Association president, 1986-1987

• Current member of the Rotary Club

• Current member of the Pingree School for Autism board

• Current bishop of LDS singles ward at the University of Utah

• Retired major, U.S. Army Reserve

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com