Utahns rally for Romney, give Obama edge

An excited group of Utahns went to the presidential primary polls Tuesday and gave Republican Mitt Romney an overwhelming win and Democrat Barack Obama a solid but not-record-setting victory, unofficial results show.

All 36 Utah national GOP delegates go to Romney — since Utah's, like many GOP primaries, are winner-take-all. Romney was running above 88 percent of the vote with 99 percent of the returns in. That would be the largest victory in a major contested race in Utah history.

Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., will split the 23 Democratic delegates based on how much of the vote each got in Utah's three U.S. House districts. And so Obama ended up with 14 delegates to Clinton's nine, said Todd Taylor, Utah Democratic Party executive director, late Tuesday.

With just over 99 percent of the vote in, Obama was leading Clinton 56 percent to 40 percent as the newspaper's deadline approached. Obama was leading Clinton in all but a few of the state's 29 counties, including Salt Lake County.

There is little doubt what will happen in Utah come November — one of the most red states in the Union, Utahns have not voted for a Democrat for president since Lyndon Johnson carried the state in 1964. So whether the ultimate GOP nominee is Romney, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., or former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, he can safely count on the Beehive State.

Romney — almost a favorite son for Utah since he is a member of the LDS Church and ran the successful 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics — will get 33 Utah GOP delegates, plus three other delegates, which are the state party chairman and the two national committee members. By Republican Party rule, those three super delegates, like the other 33 delegates, must vote for Romney on the first ballot at the National Republican Convention in September, unless Romney releases them first, said Utah GOP executive director Ivan DuBois.

Romney's possible exit from the national race will wait — he announced from his Boston headquarters that he will continue his battle.

A record number of Utahns cast presidential primary ballots — upwards of 400,000 voters. Salt Lake County saw voter turnout above 34 percent.

"We think voter turnout overall will be between 30 percent to 40 percent statewide. And that is very good," said DuBois. Most of those voters will be Republicans. Even if Romney doesn't go on to win the nomination — simply having a favorite son in the middle of the presidential election is exciting Utahns, said DuBois.