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SALT LAKE CITY -- With state political conventions set for Saturday, delegates are gearing up to hear what the candidates have to say.
Delegates hold a significant amount of power in the state. They're people like all of us, but they get to pick the candidates who all of us will vote on.
There are 6,400 delegates in all. Break that down and you have 3,900 Republicans and 2,500 Democrats. This Saturday they'll choose the politicians who will appear on the November ballot.
Here's how the process works:
The candidates first try to appeal to the delegates.
The delegates then make their picks, selecting, in theory, candidates who represent the most people from the delegates' neighborhood.
The rest of us elect the candidates.
And finally, the candidates start making decisions that affect us all, such as deciding where our tax money is spent and which laws we'll have to follow.
With that much power, we wanted to know, who are these delegates? We chose a few at random to introduce to you.
In many ways, they are "typical" Republicans and Democrats, but they all bring something very unique to the process, too.
Kameron Simmons loves the outdoors and driving his Jeep in the mountains near his North Ogden home. "I love just hanging out with friends, action sports, cliff jumping, boating, wake boarding, all that," he said.
He likes to practice his guitar and hang out in his room. But unlike a lot of 17 year olds, Kameron watches a lot of CSPAN and news shows, and these days, he's reading a lot of campaign literature.
At 17, Kameron is the state's youngest Republican delegate this year. He's a Weber High School student concerned about the future; center right, he says. The ability of a candidate to work well with others--as when the Constitution was created--is important to him.
"Compromise happened, and that's totally why we became what we became as a nation. And I think that's what Congress and our leaders have lost, is that kind of ideal," he said.
On our delegate panel, we came across native Utahns and recent residents. Daryl Acumen is a 41-year-old Cedar Hills resident. He's a digital strategy analyst for Hewlett Packard, and calls himself a "Kemp Republican."
"I wanted to make sure my voice was heard as a citizen of this state, not just some guy from back East who decided this media market was advantageous to them," Acumen said.
At meetings where delegates meet the candidates, people from both parties are answering hard questions.
Fifty-six-year-old Marla Howard of Park City is a Democratic delegate. She is a business analyst, who says she is "moderate and fiscally centrist."
"I feel that I not only represent the Democrats in my neighborhood, but I also represent the Republicans in my neighborhood, because when it comes down to it, there's going to be two choices in November, not just one choice," she said.
But in these days when there is talk of a more "moderate" field of delegates, the Tea Party is also alive and well.
Vicki Orme of Salt Lake City is a lifelong Utahn. She runs the city's KOA campground and supports the Tea Party and more right leaning candidates.
She said, "I don't think a swing to the middle is going to fix the problems. I think we need to swing a little further to the right to stop the spending, the regulations and the big government."
Republican delegates are preparing to meet Thursday at the Jordan Landing entertainment center, and Josh Romney--son of Mitt, and Mia Love--Republican Congressional candidate, will be there to meet with them.
The state conventions for both part start this Saturday. The Republicans will be at the South Towne Expo Center; the Democrats at the Salt Palace.
We will have full reports on both conventions on KSL - your home of Decision 2012.
