Frank sponsored the bill in hopes of avoiding a situation like the one that developed when he was named as a midterm replacement to the Utah House in May 2003. The county party forwarded two names to then-Gov. Mike Leavitt. Leavitt selected Frank but told the newly minted legislator that he'd never seen lobbying like that surrounding his appointment.

Lobbying was under way Wednesday, although lobbyists for Curtis and Herrod, like their candidates, were bounced from the governor to Greene to Utah County Republican leaders.

Supporters of Curtis worried that party leaders would use the legal loophole to derail his bid because they are uncomfortable with his new status as a Republican. Curtis rejoined the party 35 days ago, after a hiatus of at least six years, during which he said he remained true to Republican values, principles and platforms while successfully moving the Utah County Democratic Party to the right.

Curtis said he met with nearly every one of the 86 district delegates and disclosed his past. On the final ballot, he earned 37 votes while Herrod won 36.

Everyone involved had hoped to have a resolution by Wednesday night, so the winner could attend a daylong orientation for new legislators today.

The orientation includes an overview of state government, a speech by the governor and instruction on dealing with lobbyists and the media, as well as critical information on how to vote, how to open a bill file for proposed legislation and how to use the computers on Capitol Hill.

The chief clerk of the House, Sandy Tenney, said her staff would prepare one-on-one training for the eventual winner.

Herrod, 41, is co-owner of Keystone Developers and also processes a few loans each year for Lexington Mortgage. Curtis, 46, owns Action Target, which manufactures gun-range equipment. He ran as a Democrat against state Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, in 2000.

"This is an unusual situation," Greene said. "It's never happened before, and I'm hopeful it never happens again. None of this was discovered until Wednesday morning. We realized we didn't want to review what has happened and the law in the space of a few hours, so we're going to take a long, hard look at it overnight, then look at what the fair and correct thing to do is. I'm not committing to any timeline."

Closing the loophole will require either an overhaul of the bylaws of every county or multicounty party organization or a new bill that would change the language in the state law, Frank said.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com