Rarely are important state decisions made on the basis of geography.

But come January, Utah County is going to have some of the most powerful and influential members of the executive and legislative branches of state government. Time will tell if Utah's second most populous county will have a disproportionate say in state affairs. But look at the lineup of top officials from what's known as "Happy Valley."

• Senate President-elect John Valentine is from Orem.

• House Majority Leader-elect Jeff Alexander, the second most powerful man in the House, is from Provo.

• Lt. Gov.-elect Gary Herbert is currently a Utah County Commissioner. He lives in Orem.

• Jason Chaffetz is Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr.'s chief of staff. Chaffetz was a football player at BYU, worked 11 years for Utah County-based Nu Skin International and lives in Alpine.

• Mike Mower is Huntsman's new legislative liaison. He was the spokesman for Provo City government.

• Mike Lee is Huntsman's new in-office legal counsel. Lee is a graduate of BYU and its law school, son of the late BYU president Rex Lee. Lee lives in Cedar Hills.

Each day, the above people will be joining the estimated 20,000 Utah County residents who drive over the Point of the Mountain and into Salt Lake County for work and play.

These six will drive all the way north to the State Capitol, where they will be joined by other Utah County senators, representatives and innumerable state workers who call Happy Valley home.

Huntsman has already pledged — and lawmakers from Utah County have demanded — that the Utah Department of Transportation get adequate funding to continue work on widening I-15 in the county. The county has been short-changed in road construction the past 10 years, all seem to agree.

But beyond roads, some question whether Utah County's conservative nature will now be reflected even more often on Capitol Hill.

Utah County Republicans aren't used to listening to — or even meeting — Democrats.

The whole 16-member legislative delegation from the county are Republicans. Democrats haven't held a Senate or House seat there in a decade. And most often, incumbent Republicans only fear a challenge from one of their own party; Democratic challenges are few and almost certainly fail.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Orton lost the 3rd Congressional District — whose home is Utah County — in 1996.

All county offices are held by Republicans, and while city and town offices are nonpartisan (the candidates don't run under a partisan party banner), any right-thinking city candidate doesn't advertise if he should be a Democrat.