In 2008, Utah moved up its primary to Feb. 5, hoping to be more meaningful. But in jumped a bunch of larger states, leaving some local pundits to say Utah got lost among the really big Electoral College states.

But Huntsman says Utah did see visits by major presidential candidates before our Feb. 5 primary this year. "We are moving up the ladder among states that matter," he said.

Yes, Romney's presidential campaign certainly did energize many Utahns in 2007 and up through early February, when he dropped out of the race.

A third of Utah voters turned out for the Feb. 5 presidential primary in Utah, Romney winning the GOP ballot with an amazing 90 percent of the vote.

Obama finished first in the Democratic race here with 57 percent of the vote, with Clinton finishing second.

But are we seeing the presidential nominees — even the vice presidential nominees — as the race comes to a close? Nope. Some TV ads are the most delivered — and oddly enough some Utahns are glad to see even those presidential indicators.

At least the late Ronald Reagan stopped by in an election year, convinced that though he would surely win Utah, he wanted to connect personally with his base.

While some die-hard Republicans say McCain should spend these last two weeks traveling to states where he could bolster U.S. Senate and House GOP candidates — realizing he probably can't win the presidency for himself — even that lowered-expectation argument doesn't carry weight here.

Well ahead are Huntsman, U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and Republican 3rd District candidate Jason Chaffetz. No fears of unexpected GOP losses in Utah in important races; no call for McCain or Palin to drop life-vests on struggling party candidates.

Likewise, U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson has a huge lead on his Republican challenger, Bill Dew, in the 2nd District. No need for an Obama survival run. No boost merited for the GOP presidential ticket.

Huntsman says Utah will keep pushing its political value in presidential years. The next step is to further "solidify a Western Presidential Primary" in 2012 and beyond. "We can't do it alone, we need to get other states to join with us, and I think we will."

The millions of dollars it costs the state to run a primary election in January or February is worth it, says the governor. "It is an investment we must make. And it does result in (presidential) candidates coming to understand our issues in the West."

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