GOP triumphs in Utah

While some of the voting places saw small lines, across the Wasatch Front election judges reported long lines.

Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV pollster Dan Jones conducted exit survey's for the TV station. He said Tuesday night that upwards of 80 to 85 percent of Utah voters may ultimately be counted, a high turnout similar to 1992 when a presidential, U.S. Senate and gubernatorial race were on the Utah ballot.

The high voter turnout here reflects renewed interest in elective democracy seen across the nation this year.

While not a changing of the party in Utah's Capitol, it's a change of generations.

Huntsman, 44, a scion of one of Utah's leading wealthy and philanthropic families, is the second-youngest governor in years.

Huntsman will now begin the intense process of putting together an administration, joined by Utah County Commissioner Gary Herbert as his lieutenant governor.

Huntsman and Democrat Scott Matheson Jr. called each other friends Tuesday night, praising each other for the level of the campaign.

Said Huntsman: "We ran a high-road, optimistic, issues-focused campaign — perhaps unprecedented in the history of this state." Huntsman and close family members donated nearly $1 million personally in the race, the campaign spending around $3.5 million.

He said he'd now put together the best administrative "team second to none." And in so doing, he'd tap Utahns for public service who have never considered working for the state before.

"I'll start tomorrow at a 10 a.m." meeting, Huntsman said, to "review a transition draft and take a cursory look" at the 2005-06 budget that Walker is putting together for lawmakers' January general session.

Current GOP Gov. Olene Walker, who declined to endorse Huntsman by name and instead said she supported all Republican candidates this year, promised her aid in a smooth transition in January.

Scott Matheson Jr. is the older brother of Rep. Jim Matheson. The brothers are sons of the late Democratic Gov. Scott M. Matheson. The impact of having two brothers running for major office in Utah drew widespread speculation, but in the end normal Utah voting patterns prevailed.

Scott Matheson just barely carried Salt Lake County, said pollster Dan Jones, who has polled in Utah for 30 years and teaches political science at the University of Utah. "He needed to carry the county (which has 40 percent of the state's population) by more than 60 percent to have a chance" against Huntsman. Jim Matheson carried the Salt Lake County portion of the 2nd District by nearly 65 percent, an improvement over two years ago, Jones noted.

"We fought the good fight," Scott Matheson told a disappointed gathering of campaign workers.