• Despite getting a very late start, Gov. Olene Walker put on a successful fund-raiser Jan. 17, chaired by Max Farbman and Stan Parrish. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy entertained the big crowd, and attendees did a lot of networking.

Noting the dearth of Republicans out on the dance floor (Democrats would have been rocking in the aisles), lobbyist Christine Finlinson recalled that when she was first elected to the Legislature a veteran Republican colleague pointed out the Democrats on one side of the House chamber and said, "You can never vote with them, but let me tell you a secret — they have a lot more fun."

Walker, by the way, is one Republican who does seem to be enjoying herself. She is everyone's Governor Grandma and is making the most of it. She admitted to me that she knows she's taking positions that don't make political sense if she's planning to run this year. But she's simply going to do what she thinks is right, whatever the consequences, and will evaluate her political standing in March. This is dangerous, heretical thinking. What if doing what she thinks is right just happens to be the best thing politically? This could set conventional political strategy back a hundred years — and put people like me flat out of work.

Pignanelli: Before Utah established a primary election in reaction to larger states that moved their presidential primaries from the spring to late winter, neighborhood caucus meetings determined preferences of state parties for presidential candidates. This was great fun. Caucus attendees would conduct vigorous and emotional debates in living rooms across the state to persuade each other as to the merits and disappointments of their party's candidates.

Then they would choose delegates who were committed to the presidential candidate favored by a majority in attendance. I recall with fondness the 1984 caucus meeting in my home (more of a shouting match on the verge of bodily violence) where a dozen participants were evenly divided between Vice President Walter Mondale, Sen. Gary Hart and Civil Rights activist Jesse Jackson.

Although caucus meetings are held each March, they have a tremendous impact upon Utah's legislative process. Lawmakers are well aware that the "true believers" of their party will be in attendance at the caucus meetings and have no problem attacking incumbents for compromising with whoever is deemed to be the enemy.