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It may not have turned up on your radar yet, but there is a campaign for Utah governor's seat this year. So far, it's been a major challenge for Gov. Jon Huntsman's opponents, like Democrat Bob Springmeyer, to attract attention.
Let's face it, Huntsman is extremely popular, and the governor's race is not really a talker this year, at least not yet. Springmeyer is hoping to change that.
Springmeyer rides his bike around town not just to attract attention. But if he gets a little, he doesn't mind. In his campaign for governor, getting attention has been tough so far. "I think that's been our biggest challenge," he said.
Springmeyer is running a campaign at a time when Huntsman is riding high in popularity.
Huntsman's executive order for a four-day state workweek has drawn mixed reviews this summer. But in May, he seemed poised for a landslide re-election. A Dan Jones poll of 604 statewide voters picked Huntsman as their candidate overwhelmingly: 77 percent said so.
Still, Springmeyer says Huntsman is vulnerable. He claims the governor has bigger political aspirations and that he buckles under pressure from the Legislature.
"He doesn't veto bills that should have been vetoed. He doesn't issue executive orders that should have been. He defers to them," Springmeyer said.
Even an expert at getting attention, "Super Dell" Schanze resorted to calling the governor "the anti-Christ" in a recorded phone-calling campaign last week. The statement shocked others in his newly-found Libertarian party and has since been taken out. But even so, it did succeed at generating a bit of a buzz.
"I wish he'd come up with a better way. But here I am on TV, and I guess any publicity for a party that gets none is better than what we'd usually get," said Andrew McCullough, chair of the Utah Libertarian Party.
The governor's office declined to respond to questions about the campaign today, which is common for an incumbent who is riding high.
You can expect the campaign to pick up a little bit, but this year there is a lot of competition for people's political attention, especially because of the race for president.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
