To the uninitiated, that might sound like macho posturing. And he is a big guy. Still plays rugby. But with little prodding, he'll start rhapsodizing about his favorite poetry and plays. He recites lines from Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" sonnet and from "Julius Caesar." He urges you to read "Seabiscuit," another true story of beating long odds. And he's in the middle of "The Tipping Point," Malcolm Gladwell's book about the little things that turn the tides of public opinion. Hola fits the book's definition of a "connector," one who pounds the pavement and galvanizes a variety of people. His road to political office has some old potholes, however. Hola pleaded guilty five years ago to a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from a domestic-violence incident with his first wife, Telesia Tonga. "In fact, there was no physical violence, (but) a lot of yelling and screaming," Tonga said last month when reports of the episode resurfaced. She called the arrest a "huge misunderstanding," adding she and her ex-husband are now on good terms.

After his April 4, 1998, arrest, Hola pleaded guilty in abeyance, and the case was dismissed after he met certain requirements. Hola and Tonga divorced in June 1999 and had the divorce changed to an annulment in April 2000. "We both wanted a fresh start," he said.

"I knew the story would come out eventually," Hola added. "I thought it would be inappropriate to come out and say 'I'm running for office, and by the way . . . ' I dealt with it as honorably as I could have. I was not going to let that hold me back from running for office." Last year Hola married Lindsay Welch, daughter of Salt Lake 2002 Olympic bid leader Tom Welch. Having a family member in the harsh spotlight of the Olympic bid scandal, Hola said, didn't make Lindsay eager to dive into the fishbowl of a political campaign.

"She was reluctant," he said. But Lindsay also knew whom she was marrying. Hola told her when they were just dating that he planned to run for mayor. These days she is "very supportive," he says. And "she is 10 times smarter than me. I run everything by her." Something Hola says he's smart enough to know is not to make an issue of his religion. Among the three contenders, Hola is the only Mormon.

Any hopeful who trumpets "LDS," he said, "is not going to get voted in. It doesn't take a Harvard degree to figure that out." Salt Lakers are proud free-thinkers, Hola said, and they don't cotton to the idea of the LDS Church influencing their elected officials