Webb: The whole phenomenon of a Utah legislative session would be a fascinating study in human behavior. Utah's sessions are so intense and so short, with so many crucial public policy and budget decisions jammed into such a brief time period, that each session becomes an ant bed of frenetic activity.

For 45 days, a tight circle of legislators, lobbyists and news reporters interact in cramped quarters, working, eating and practically sleeping together. A session becomes a giant echo chamber, with rumors running rampant. Offhand comments make the rounds and return within 12 hours as gospel truth.

And when it's all over, the echoes continue as the same insider clique spends time ruminating over who won, who lost, who has the most power, who are the real leaders. Not that anyone in the general public really gives a darn.

And so, the discussion at many a lobbyist lunch of late has been whether new Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. did well at the session or whether he got rolled by more savvy, veteran legislators.

Personally, I think it's a rather meaningless discussion. The reality is that it was a fine session with few major mistakes. The budget got balanced, the important state business was accomplished, and the right things were done so state government and education can move forward for another year.

Clearly, in the perception of the news media and the general public, the session was a success for Huntsman. His personal diplomatic style was celebrated and he avoided major losses. He didn't play games and he didn't posture before the news media.

It was a fairly cautious session for him, but that's to be expected from a governor barely in office a few weeks. He didn't have time to build major coalitions, develop legislative relationships, and use his bully pulpit to lay the groundwork for sweeping new initiatives.

So, if a few members of the clique inside the echo chamber want to snicker about inexperience and even naivete in the governor's office, so be it. I doubt Huntsman is worried about appearing macho to the lobbyist crowd.

Obviously, all the extra money lubricated relationships between the executive and legislative branches during the session. It would have gotten ugly, and Huntsman probably would have had a very rough first session, had not the money been there. As it was, Huntsman didn't have to expend much political capital to have a reasonably good session.

But next year, much more will be expected. Huntsman has an ambitious agenda, planning major initiatives on tax reform, economic development and transportation as his administration gets rolling.