Polls for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV by Dan Jones & Associates found then that Buhler was supported by nearly 60 percent of city Republicans. The Democrat in 1991 was Deedee Corradini, and she got 76 percent of the Democratic vote, Jones found, as she coasted to a 55-45 percent victory in the final election.

"People know I'm a Republican. The media has done a good job" of informing them of such, Buhler said. "Of course I'm not running away" from the political party or its philosophies, he added. "Obviously, a number of Republicans support me. But so do Democrats and independents."

The Salt Lake mayor's race is officially nonpartisan. That means political parties take no part in candidates' nominations and a candidate's party affiliation doesn't appear next to his name on the ballot.

However, the mayoral candidates' party affiliation is well known, as candidates often campaign as a Republican or Democrat, with those names on their literature and media advertisements.

In Salt Lake City, being a Democrat helps a lot more than being a Republican.

Becker received 40 percent of the vote Tuesday night, while fellow Democrat Jenny Wilson received 23 percent, said Taylor, the nation's longest-serving Democratic state party boss.

So it can be argued that Becker starts his final campaign push with approximately 60 percent of the vote.

Tuesday night Becker said he wouldn't shun the Democratic label. In fact, he would play it up.

The issue is tougher for Buhler. How close does he tie himself to his Republican Party, whose members are a minority in the city?

Holding the Salt Lake City mayorship may not be as critical as it was in the 1980s and 1990s, Taylor said. That's because Democrat Peter Corroon is Salt Lake County mayor, an officially partisan post.

"But make no mistake, (the city mayor's post) is still very, very important to us," Taylor said.

Even more than any bragging rights that come with it, a Democrat holding the mayor's seat "gives many Utahns, across the state, the feeling that they have a voice" in heavily Republican Utah, he said.

That is certainly the case with retiring Mayor Rocky Anderson, who has tweaked the political noses of Utah Republicans by openly opposing President Bush's Iraq War policies, arguing for looser liquor laws, and backing gay and lesbian rights.

Anderson won two elections by appealing to liberal, non-LDS city voters — a tactic that may have split the city along party and religious lines but which also proved quite politically effective.

Taylor said that with two strong candidates in the race before Tuesday — Becker and Wilson, who is a Democratic Salt Lake County councilwoman, "the party stayed out of the mayor's race. No more."

The state Democratic Party will help Becker in recruiting volunteers, raising money, identifying issues and strategy — all if Becker wants such help.