And half a dozen anti-voucher GOP candidates who thought they had a chance to unseat the Republican incumbent who voted in favor of the private school voucher subsidization bill in the 2007 Legislature — only to see voters kill vouchers last November — went down to defeat in GOP county and state conventions. Pro-voucher incumbents won nearly across the board.

Kirk Jowers, head of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, said the latest numbers are more favorable for Utah Republicans than he would have guessed — given the "voter discontent we find out there."

But Utah Republicans have three things working for them, Jowers said.

There is the history and pattern of most Utahns voting Republican for years, some for generations. And former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney helped to solidify that pattern this election season in Utah, especially his amazing 90 percent win in the Utah GOP presidential primary in February.

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a liberal activist, harmed the "Democratic brand name" in Utah, and it will take some time for political moderates like Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, new city Mayor Ralph Becker and Matheson to bring general good feelings about Democrats back to Utah voters.

Utah Democratic leaders have not yet been able to bring a unified voice of local ethical reform and dominance of special interests against Republicans, especially GOP legislators. There's a political opening there, Jowers believes.

"Republicans need to realize that the self-identifying (as Republicans) for many Utahns is not guaranteed," Jowers said. "And Utah Republicans must know that their advantages could reverse course" — maybe not this election year, but in elections soon to come, Jowers said.

Republican officeholders aren't sitting silently, however, and just counting on past victories to carry them through 2008.

At the state GOP convention, party leaders announced a new, expensive public relations campaign aimed at telling voters just how well they have been served by the Republican majority in Utah.

Party chairman Stan Lockhart said that through a variety of channels, including an updated Web site, party leaders will tell the Utah story — well-managed government, lower taxes, higher spending on public education, a new freeway/main road repair and expansion program, and so on.

And Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, says that he doubts there will be a new voucher bill before the 2009 Legislature — hopefully taking away one of the Utah Democrats' main campaign themes this election season.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com

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