In the recent Jones survey of registered voters, 40 percent said they were likely to vote Democratic in the mayor's race. Only 28 percent said they were likely to vote for the GOP candidate, while 27 percent said the candidate's political affiliation didn't matter to them. Only 5 percent didn't have an opinion or mentioned some other alternative.

Clearly, Democrats Wilson and Becker have an advantage in the race right off the bat.

And city voters haven't elected a GOP mayor since 1971.

Still, with two Democrats splitting the vote in the primary, that opens the door for Republican Buhler or independent Christensen to slip into the final election — even if the odds would be against them there.

Wilson, who holds an at-large Democratic County Council seat, gets 37 percent of the Democratic vote and 22 percent of the independent vote, Jones found.

Becker, a Democratic House member for 10 years, gets 23 percent of the Democratic vote and 10 percent of the independent vote.

Buhler, a former GOP state senator, gets 38 percent of the Republican vote and 17 percent of the independent vote.

And Christensen, the former Republican, gets 17 percent of the GOP vote and 17 percent of independent vote.

In 1991, then a political novice candidate, Buhler barely got into the final mayoral race with then-Democratic candidate Deedee Corradini. The former mayor swept past Buhler easily in the final election.

Since then, every Salt Lake City mayoral final has had two Democrats; no Republicans, no independents.

It's time for city residents to start paying attention to the four candidates with the best chance to win the mayor's race. And we'll see how political cash translates into votes come Sept. 11.

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Deseret Morning News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com