"Huntsman is shoring up his conservative base" by opposing NCLB "while reaching out to Olene Walker supporters," who likely are moderate Republicans, "making them feel more comfortable with him," says Dave Hansen, a longtime Utah GOP operative who ran Fred Lampropoulos' gubernatorial bid this year. Lampropoulos, like Walker, was defeated in the May GOP convention.

"It's natural that both candidates try to capitalize on education, which continually comes in as the most important issue for voters this year" in state races, said Hansen.

But the critically breaking school issue between Matheson and Huntsman is not support for public education. "Who isn't for education?" said Hansen. "It's school choice — how hard will either guy go on that?"

Matheson, formally endorsed by the Utah Education Association, the main public education union, opposes tuition tax credits for parents who send their children to private schools, saying public education can't afford any budget reductions.

Huntsman supports recent pro-education-choice efforts, including a tax credit bill introduced in the 2004 Legislature that failed to make it out of a House committee.

While both Matheson and Huntsman will take their TV ads off the air in about two weeks, Utahns can plan on being bombarded with all kinds of campaign ads before the Nov. 2 election. Besides the governor's race, there is a U.S. Senate and three U.S. House contests.

In the governor's race, Matheson's campaign has passed the $1 million fund-raising level, Zuhl said.

And when new financial reports are filed this week, Chaffetz said, Huntsman will be above the $2 million mark in contributions.

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