Quiet Demo meet looms in Utah County

PROVO — If you held a political convention and nobody voted, would it still be a convention?

Utah County Democrats say yes, and they'll hold an intimate 2004 convention tonight in the Provo City Council chambers without a ballot in sight.

Instead, there will be plenty of speechmaking — the headliners are gubernatorial candidate Scott Matheson Jr. and 3rd Congressional District hopeful Beau Babka.

The lone expected contest pitted two Democrats running against each other in State Senate District 13, but all suspense ended when Vernon's Michael Quarnberg withdrew last week, leaving Salem's Gene Bradford alone to prepare for November's general election.

In fact, Democrats, who fielded a candidate in every county race in 2000, have candidates for only eight of the 16 open legislative seats from Utah County.

"There's not a lot to fight about like there is for the Republicans, who have to decide which of nine candidates to choose for governor," said Roger Layton, who resigned six weeks ago as county Democratic Party chairman.

So while their Republican counterparts ramp up for at least a half-dozen hotly contested local races at the GOP county convention on Saturday, the Democrats plan to use their meeting to organize toward a future where they might win more races in this Republican hotbed.

"It makes the convention easy, that's for sure," said Vaughan Cook, who is serving the remainder of Layton's term as county chairman.

The only incumbent Democrat with a legislative seat representing a portion of Utah County is State Sen. Mike Dmitrich, who lives in Price, Carbon County. His district, Senate District 27, includes Mapleton but stretches east to the Colorado border and south to Arizona.

"Hopefully in the future we can become more viable as a party in the election process," said Cook, who added that his goals are to field a candidate for every race — and then start winning some of them.

There is a restlessness that could someday fulfill that vision, according to county party spokesman Dirk Van Gils.

"Utah County has been an overwhelmingly Republican area, but this year we've had just a groundswell of support because people are so upset about how the state has been run," Van Gils said. "People are coming out of the woodwork who want a more moderate, middle-of-the-road, more representative reflection in government of what Utah County is and what Utah is."