Becker wins Salt Lake helm by a landslide

Welcome to Salt Lake City, one of the most liberal — or "progressive" — cities in very conservative Utah.

Election results  » State of Utah Elections Office (Lieutenant Governor's Office)  » Salt Lake County Clerk

Have any doubts about that? Just ask moderate Republican Dave Buhler, who was squashed Tuesday by Democrat Ralph Becker in the capital city's mayoral election.

Becker will start his first four-year term as mayor in January, replacing retiring Mayor Rocky Anderson, also a Democrat.

Complete but unofficial results show a Becker landslide — 64 percent to 36 percent — a 2-to-1 victory not predicted in any pre-general election surveys. Approximately 43 percent of city voters went to the polls.

"Salt Lake City really is a progressive city," Becker said Tuesday night. "Progressive" has become a new catch-phrase for "liberal."

Becker said he and his staff worked hard "to present me as who I am" to voters. He said he now wants to "bring people together." And in that effort, he wants to use Buhler in some capacity.

Becker, an 11-year veteran of the Utah House, much of the time as minority leader, won the September primary election and never looked back. Becker spent about a half million dollars in his race, Buhler about $400,000. But money wasn't the issue — personal politics, political parties and vouchers on the ballot may have been.

Becker said he looks forward to implementing his "blueprint" for the city — an aggressive agenda of education, livability issues, environmental concerns, economic development and neighborhood public safety.

Buhler, an eight-year member of the City Council from his Sugar House neighborhood, appeared a bit stunned by the size of his loss. In 1991, in his first-ever candidacy, Buhler lost the mayor's race to Deedee Corradini, 55 percent to 45 percent.

Buhler certainly expected to do better this year. Instead, he fell well short — perhaps a victim of a perfect political storm of city voters unhappy with national Republicans, especially President Bush; unhappy with the GOP Legislature's private school voucher law (which lost 4-to-1 in the city); and Becker's strong, grass-roots campaigning.