Another Republican who counts Dmitrich as a friend is former Senate President Lane Beattie. Even though Dmitrich was not in leadership during his entire tenure as Senate president, Beattie said, "many times I had to work through Mike to get things accomplished."

Beattie, now the head of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, said Dmitrich's attitude "is never 'let me grandstand for publicity.'

"It's a matter of how he gets things done quietly and straightforward," Beattie said. "Because of that, you try not to disrespect him either."

Dmitrich said he has fought some battles but seldom felt the need to take the fight public. He said the criticism he's heard over the years from members of his own party doesn't bother him because "my constituents, my friends, know who I am."

One victory he counts as a result of his style is saving his own Senate district from extensive redistricting in 2001. Other Democrats, including the party's only member of Congress, Rep. Jim Matheson, saw their districts reconfigured dramatically.

That, Dmitrich said, was "critical. Not just for me, but to keep a (Democratic) senator from Carbon County, which we've had since statehood." He calls himself an "old-school Democrat, who believes in education, a living wage, safe working conditions and decent health care.

"I think if every Democrat believed that," he said, "we'd be a lot better off."

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