Several times recently, Hatch has praised the work of the Utah congressional delegation, even telling the state GOP convention last year that everyone worked well together, including Matheson.

I doubt Hatch and Bennett would have been so complimentary of Matheson if they believed there was a chance that he could be knocked out of office this year.

(Matheson even got a higher job approval rating than any Utah GOP major officeholder in a Jones poll earlier this year.)

Being a Republican — and with Republicans controlling the U.S. House and Senate and the White House — Christensen can't run against what the federal government is doing. And while Utahns are a patriotic bunch, the Iraqi war is unpopular across the country, even among Republicans. He can't get a lot of traction there, either.

So Christensen is doing what the other recent Matheson challengers have done: Run saying you can't vote for a Democrat, because it could cost Republicans the House majority.

That strategy didn't work in 2000, 2002 and 2004 — elections where it was unlikely that Republicans actually could lose the majority.

Ironically, this year national surveys show Republicans may really lose their 15-seat majority.

Christensen is banging away with his theme: America needs Utah. But it doesn't seem to be doing much. Maybe 2nd District voters don't care if the Republicans lose control. Maybe they just like Matheson so much, GOP voters are going with the man rather than the party. (The September poll found that about a third of GOP voters favor Matheson.)

With two weeks left, Christensen will undoubtedly close on Matheson. After all, the 2nd District is a Republican-voting seat in most other races.

But at this point in the 2006 2nd District race, Matheson looks stronger than ever before.

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Deseret Morning News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com