Huntsman, Springmeyer file for race

GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. filed for re-election Tuesday, and longtime Democrat Bob Springmeyer said he would be challenging the governor this year.

It is the second run for office by Springmeyer, 64, an urban planner. He ran unsuccessfully for the then-Salt Lake County Commission in 1976, although he has been active in state Democratic politics for years.

"I probably would have more luck in winning the lottery" than this race, said a realistic Springmeyer. He ticked off Huntsman's advantages: "He is very popular. He's handsome. He can raise a lot of money. He has a billionaire daddy. And his wife (first lady Mary Kaye) is drop-dead gorgeous." Utah has not elected a Democratic governor since 1980.

Still, Springmeyer says he will give it a go, work hard, bring up important issues. "There are only really three important offices in Utah — governor, and the two U.S. senators. I've been asked" by the Utah Democratic Party "to represent my party in one of those. It is an honor and a privilege."

Huntsman, 47, who took the oath of candidacy from his Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, who will once again be his running mate, said he knows Springmeyer personally. "He is a good man. He is well known in the community. He's worked on planning and growth issues, quality of life issues. I've enjoyed my interaction with him. He is a serious player and I think he will mount a very serious campaign."

But it's a campaign that may wait awhile.

"You'll see me again in September," said Springmeyer, owner of Bonneville Research, who added he will not put any of his personal money into the race and probably won't be publicly campaigning until after Labor Day. "People who are sitting on the fence don't make up their minds" about whom they will vote for "until the last three or four weeks of a campaign anyway; anything earlier is basically chest-thumping" and self-promotion, he said.

Huntsman, surrounded by some of his staff, Mary Kaye and a number of their children, also signed Utah's "Fair Campaign Practices" voluntary law. It promises, as Herbert put it in explaining the document to Huntsman, "that you will not say any bad things about your opponent which are not true."

Huntsman said he hasn't set a budget for his campaign yet, but imagines he will spend less than $1 million. That would make it one of the least expensive gubernatorial campaigns by a serious, major-party candidate in recent state history.

Springmeyer said he may get "a little atta-boy money" from the Utah Democratic Party, but he's planning on running a skinny financial race.