While other people are waiting for the transition before announcing a decision, Herbert is not. He has already said that not only will he run in 2010, but if he wins then will run for his own full four-year term in 2012.

Dave Hansen, chairman of the Utah Republican Party, said Jowers and Beattie are "the only two" possible gubernatorial candidates drawing much consideration now. But Hansen added that some others, like state Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, and Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, could wait to see if Herbert makes any major missteps before deciding whether to challenge him within the party. However, that could push their decisions into at least December, when Herbert will release his first recommended state budget.

A 2008 change to the Utah Constitution says if a governor resigns or dies in his first year in office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor, but there's an election the following year to see who serves out the final two years of that four-year term.

Herbert, who served 12 years as a Utah County commissioner and was running for governor himself in 2004 when he decided to join Huntsman's ticket, has been working Republican delegates/loyalists for six years, eyeing 2012. But while Herbert will have the title of governor, as former Gov. Olene Walker had before him, Herbert has not won the seat on his own. Walker, who stepped up to the top post in November 2003 when then-Gov. Mike Leavitt accepted a post in the Bush administration, was knocked out of office in the 2004 GOP convention while trying to win the post on her own.

Jowers said the 2010 governor's race could cost between $5 million and $8 million, "depending on who is in the general election."

But the real challenge for any Republican who takes on Herbert will be the May 2010 state Republican Convention, where about 3,500 delegates will either give the nomination to one candidate (if he gets 60 percent of the vote) or winnow the field down to two, who will face off in a June closed GOP primary.

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com