Politicians begin eyeing the gubernatorial race

Politically speaking, July and August are considered the dog days of summer.

Little appears to be going on.

But in state politics this summer, a lot is happening. It's just behind the scenes.

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert is putting together his administration, picking a chief of staff and — his most public decision — naming who will serve as his new lieutenant governor.

Meanwhile, any number of current, former or would-be politicians are deciding whether to run for governor in 2010.

If this were a normal gubernatorial election cycle, when a sitting governor wasn't going to run for re-election in 18 months, there would already be candidates on the field, conducting polls, doing early fund raising and lining up support and endorsements.

Former Utah House Speaker Marty Stephens started his run for the governorship years before he actually ran in 2004, setting up a political-action committee and, as a speaker who could fund raise like mad, had more than $200,000 in the bank in 2003. (Stephens ultimately lost in the 2004 state GOP convention and retired from politics).

But 2009 is not your normal political-planning year.

Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. fixed that by accepting Democratic President Barack Obama's invitation in mid-May to become ambassador to China.

Herbert will step up to the governor's seat — as former Lt. Gov./Gov. Olene Walker did for former Gov. Mike Leavitt — once the U.S. Senate confirms the Utah chief executive to the federal post.

Walker stepped into the governor's office in November 2003 — late in Leavitt's third term.

It was assumed that Leavitt wasn't going to run for a fourth, four-year term, and would-be gubernatorial candidates were already at work for the 2004 election.

But Huntsman was only four months into his second term when he said he's leaving.

Huntsman had said he wouldn't run again in 2012. But with three years to go, no one was actively considering a governor's race.

Now, all of a sudden, the political ground has shifted.

Timing side, Herbert — who one political ally recently described to me as the "perfect county commissioner — he tries to get along with everyone" — is from the right wing of the Utah Republican Party. And so conservative politicians find themselves in a quandary.

How do you run to the right of a long-time conservative, who has the power of the incumbency and has been working with state GOP delegates for at least six years?

Then this final wrinkle: Utah Republicans who want a high office don't get many shots at open seats.

Leavitt served for 11 years. Huntsman was set for eight.