Super Tuesday it isn't

With the 500-pound election gorilla known as "Super Tuesday" only a week away, neither of the leading Democratic presidential candidates could find time to campaign in Utah prior to today's comparatively lightweight primary election.

Some cynics wonder if Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards ignored Utah because of "so many Republicans, so little interest."

But Edwards insists the no-show was more like "so many states, so little time." Only 61 delegates are up for grabs today in Utah, Hawaii and Idaho, compared to 1,151 next week in 10 states from California to New York.

"It's just impossible to get everywhere," the North Carolina candidate said during a Monday phone conference with Utah media while traveling from New York to Georgia. "I'm one human being and I can't go everywhere."

As front-runner Sen. John Kerry did in a Utah conference call Sunday, Edwards stressed he cares what happens in this state's voting booths.

"I think Utah is an important state. It's a state we want very much to compete in," he said. "People in Utah should know I will do everything I can for them as president."

And he is planning on visiting the Beehive State by November.

"As the nominee," he predicted.

To clarify, Edwards was referring to the nomination for president, not vice president, so don't expect him to back out of the race if "Forgotten Tuesday" and "Super Tuesday" results don't favor him.

"I'm in this for the long haul," he said.

Still, Edwards gave a further snub to Utah Democrats by not sending a representative to stump for him at the party's Jefferson-Jackson bash Monday. At the reception, former Clinton-era Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros was stumping for Kerry while actress Mimi Kennedy, better known as Dharma's mom on the sitcom "Dharma and Greg," stumped for Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

The speakers at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner, held at the former Union Pacific Station at The Gateway, focused on a common theme — getting President Bush ousted from the White House.

Bush's "policy decision and reversals (of Clinton-era policy) have cost us millions of jobs," Cisneros said. "We have got to get this administration out of Washington."

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said voters need to "end the tyrannical era of (U.S. Attorney General) John Ashcroft."