Within a week, Utah lost two longtime Democratic leaders, first former University of Utah political science professor J.D. Williams, and then former Gov. Cal Rampton.

It's a blow to all state residents, but an especially hard hit to Democrats and Democratic Party leaders.

The two men lived full and exciting lives.

And with their deaths (both of natural causes, Rampton was 93), Democrats lose two shining examples of public servants.

"Servants" is actually a very good word in describing these two men, for neither became rich in money through their work.

But they certainly became rich, and enriched all of us, through years of examining, teaching and formulating public policy.

Williams never won an elective office, although he ran several times.

Rampton lost half a dozen elections before being elected governor in 1964. He went on to win two re-elections and is still the only governor to serve 12 full years.

Rampton was the great pragmatist. While believing in the Democratic Party and its ideals, he worked in a bipartisan manner to wrestle an antiquated and cumbersome state bureaucratic system into a modern state.

Williams was the idealist. Applying history to correct political principles drove him.

Both men were wonderful resources for learning about and understanding Utah's political history and the powers and individuals who shaped it.

And both were throwbacks to a time in Utah when Democrats were the majority party — holding the governorship, control of the Legislature and at least one U.S. Senate or U.S. House seat.

As Utah moved to the right and now is one of the most Republican states in the nation, Democrats looked toward Rampton and Williams for leadership and memories of the good ol' days.

With the death a few years ago of former U.S. Congressman Wayne Owens, and before him the deaths of former Rep. Gunn McKay and former Gov. Scott M. Matheson, Utah's Democratic Party's old guard is by and large gone.

We can look to former Salt Lake Mayor Ted Wilson, who is in his mid-60s, and some of his contemporaries.

But other Democratic big names are just that — names, not living examples of the party that led America through the Great Depression, World War II and the civil-rights fights of the 1960s.

Former President Bill Clinton tried to define the "new Democrat."

And now there is talk of the "Western Democrats," a more moderate lot who aim to slow the growth of federal spending, reduce federal intrusion and let states make more decisions for their people.

But neither has caught on much in Utah.

Western Democrats need to do something, for they have been pushed into a minority position during the 1980s and 1990s.