Several Demos eyeing race against Workman

With their optimism about their chances of securing Utah's highest office already juiced, Democrats have started to turn their sights toward mounting a serious challenge for the Salt Lake County mayoral post.

Although nobody has formally announced intentions to oppose Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman, county party leaders have been actively working to recruit a strong enough candidate to topple the incumbent mayor, who they view as vulnerable. They would like to find somebody who would treat county government as more than just a business to manage, said Nicole Adams, county party chairwoman.

"The most important attribute is leadership, and we've seen a lack of it," Adams said. "Being able to run a corporation is one thing, but there are plenty of people under the mayor who can do that well. We want a candidate with a vision for the county."

While none has committed to running, many prominent Democrats have been recruited, including former U.S. Rep. Bill Orton, Sen. Paula Julander, Councilman Jim Bradley, District Attorney David Yocom, Rep. Karen Morgan and former Salt Lake Mayor Ted Wilson. Almost a dozen people have either been asked or have contacted the party about challenging Workman.

The Democratic focus on the county mayor's office stems, in large part, from the fact that the mayor represents 898,387 people, more than any of the three U.S. House of Representatives districts and almost 30 times as many people as a member of the Utah House represents. Despite that constituency, the mayor's job is often done in relative obscurity, primarily because of the nature of county government.

The Democratic focus has not gone unnoticed in Republican circles, although county Republican Party Chairwoman Tiani Coleman was confident that Workman would be re-elected.

"She'll be a big target for the Democrats, so we are taking it very seriously," Coleman said. "She's a strong candidate, has a lot of supporters and is a good campaigner, but we will watch it very closely."

With a half-million county residents also part of a city, however, the operations of county government often go unnoticed or are credited (and blamed) on city officials, not county leaders. For those half-million people, their mayor is whoever is leading their city, not the county mayor. Concern about that type of obscurity was a primary reason for a recent decision to prominently display stickers with Workman's name on every entrance, exit and any other vacant space at county facilities.