Then it was off to Brigham Young University. "I spent large parts of each summer growing up coming back to Utah where we had family. Going to BYU was natural for me."

During his freshman year he played on the BYU baseball team as a nonscholarship second baseman. He also met his future wife, Sue.

"I decided it was time to get serious" about marriage and school. He quit baseball and graduated in 2 1/2 years, working his way through as a customer service rep at Sears, a janitor at BYU's Wilkinson Center and a research assistant.

As a boy he had read biographies of Patrick Henry, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln — all lawyers. "I didn't know what a lawyer did when I was a kid, but even then I told my parents I wanted to be one."

Believing he wanted to be a trial attorney, Christensen chose the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, known for its trial-lawyer emphasis.

During his three years there he worked as an aide to California's governor. But Reagan was gone, and Christensen worked in the administration of widely liberal Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat "who had some goofy ideas," Christensen recalls.

While Christensen is licensed to practice law in Utah and California, after law school he decided to join his brothers, who were developing real estate in Southern California and Utah — a business his then-ailing father had started years before.

Ultimately, Christensen became a multimillionaire through developing several large subdivisions in Utah.

His three children are grown and out of the house, but grandchildren are coming along, much to the delight of LaVar and Sue Christensen.

"I've been a Republican since I was 18. I've never had any second thoughts. I thought as a young man that in all likelihood I'd run for office someday."

While behind in the polls, Christensen said should he lose to Matheson it will not end his time in politics, although he has no specific plans now on any other office.

---

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com