Utahns vote for Romney, Obama

"This is very exciting for us," said Taylor. Democrats have been the minority party in Utah for more than 30 years, with twice as many Utahns identifying with the Republican Party than the Democratic Party.

Utah Democrats have six super delegates — party leaders and Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. And Taylor said those six super delegates are morally-bound to vote for the overall Utah Democratic Party winner in the state unless released by that candidate before the first round of balloting in the National Democratic Convention in August.

So Obama can count on those six at least on the first round of convention voting.

About 35 Obama supporters at the Skybox Bar and Grille at The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City cheered "Yah! YaHOO!" when NBC called the Utah Democratic race for Obama soon after 8 p.m.

As the Obama party gathered steam and more backers arrived in front of the vast TV screens, the whooping was even louder when the network called Kansas for their man.

Obama supporter Megan Riffe, Salt Lake City, shouted: "Go Obama!"

Riffe said she's delighted by the numbers of the Democratic turnout. "We're just really excited about how many people turned out to vote for Hillary and Obama."

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Contributing: Joe Bauman

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E-MAIL: bbjr@desnews.com