SALT LAKE CITY — The governor's race is taking center stage at both the Republican and Democratic state party conventions this year, even though the national delegates who'll nominate their party's presidential candidates are also being selected.

Thanks to changes to the traditional caucus and convention nomination process, GOP Gov. Gary Herbert is positioned to advance to a primary even if he loses at Saturday's Republican Party convention.

That's because Herbert chose to also gather voter signatures to guarantee himself him a place on the June 28 primary ballot, while his chief challenger, Overstock.com Chairman Jonathan Johnson, is only competing for the nomination at convention.

So Johnson has to keep the governor from getting the 60 percent of the delegates needed to win at convention for there to even be a primary. Otherwise, Herbert becomes the Republican Party nominee.

Democrats

Democrats Mike Weinholtz and Vaughn Cook are competing to be their party's nominee for governor Saturday. Cook tried but failed to collect the signatures needed to secure a primary ballot spot, so delegates will decide if there's a run-off.

Democratic delegates will be able to nominate a candidate to run in the general election in November outright if either Weinholtz and Cook ends up with at least 60 percent of the convention vote. If not, they'll face off in the primary.

Adapting to changes in system

The changes to the nomination process this year are the result of a controversial compromise with backers of Count My Vote, a citizens' initiative that would have replaced the traditional system with a direct primary.

Instead, lawmakers agreed to create an alternative path to the primary ballot, allowing candidates to gather voter signatures. That hasn't sat well with the Utah Republican Party, which sued the state in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the new process.

It's going to take time for politicians and voters to get accustomed to the changes, said Chris Karpowitz, co-director of BYU's Center for the Study of Democracy and Elections.

"The system is different this year, and that's bound to create confusion even among people who have followed politics closely," Karpowitz said, especially with the legal questions surrounding the changes only recently being largely resolved.

"The convention is different this time around. I know there are supporters of the convention system that are distressed about that fact," he said, including delegates who no longer completely control the nominating process.

Herbert's decision to collect signatures

Dave Hansen, Johnson's campaign manager and a former state GOP chairman, said a lot of delegates are "disappointed" Herbert decided to gather signatures rather than rely solely on their judgement.

It's "the direction he has taken, saying, 'I like the caucus convention, but just in case they don't like me, I'm going to buy my way into the primary.' That's not sitting well with a lot of folks," Hansen said.

The governor's campaign manager, Marty Carpenter, said that's not what he's hearing.

"There have been very few questions about the governor's decision to collect signatures," Carpenter said. "The governor effectively used the signature gathering process to strengthen turnout on caucus night."

Campaigning

While there are already billboards along I-15 touting Herbert's re-election, Johnson has focused his campaigning almost exclusively on the nearly 4,000 Republican delegates throughout the state.

"It's just getting Jonathan in front of as many delegates as possible," Hansen said. "This is the ultimate in retail politics. The delegates are not going to be influenced by stuff that looks like you're doing it just to get their vote."

The governor is also spending time with delegates, recently hosting an evening for them at Vivint Arena with GOP strategist Karl Rove, a top adviser to former President George W. Bush.

Carpenter said the governor wants a convention win and is campaigning hard to get it.

"We understand the difference in the process this time around. But per the governor's direction, we have treated it in practicality as if there was not a change in the system," he said.

'Miserable' process?

University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank said the GOP has put Herbert in a tough position.

"I have just been really baffled by what the Republicans have done. It seems like they've gone out of their way to make this as contentious and as miserable a process as possible," Burbank said.

He said even though Herbert has been popular with Utahns since taking office in 2009 and has presided over a strong economy, he could find himself in trouble with delegates unhappy with the new election process.

"It's possible you can take a Republican governor and weaken him going into the election because you had a bad nominating process," Burbank said. "It might be much more of a struggle than he ever anticipated."

Don't look for that kind of drama from the Democrats, Utah Democratic Party Chairman Peter Corroon said, even though the party's nomination for governor is contested.

"The Republicans always seem like they're in disarray," Corroon said. "We're the 'Steady Eddies.'"

Cook said Democrats will benefit from Republican candidates highlighting their "weak spots" in a primary while he doesn't believe "a primary on the Democratic side is a liability for us. It would increase exposure for both of us."

Weinholtz was less certain Democrats would be helped by a competitive GOP race for governor. "Maybe," he said. "I suppose if there is a primary on their side, that means they have to concentrate on the primary."

State Democrats are holding elections Friday for delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July — 29 for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and eight for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

With those selections out of the way, Democrats will focus on their candidates for state and federal offices Saturday.

GOP national races

Republicans, however, are already gearing up for a battle over national delegates Saturday in addition to the nomination races up and down the ballot.

All of the state's 40 GOP delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, also in July, are committed to voting on the first ballot there for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the winner of the state's caucus preference election.

But some conservatives are concerned about what will happen on subsequent ballots, and they're putting together their own national delegate slate to compete with one from Cruz's campaign that would require delegates to stick with the Texas senator.

GOP state delegates will also consider a resolution encouraging public officials in Utah to "nullify any federal order, act, opinion or regulation that lies outside the bounds of lawful authority of the federal government."

Contributing: Ladd Egan

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