How did Utah get into this mess?

Well, Utah has peculiar politics, to say the least. When statehood was first achieved in 1897, the folks here didn't know much about national elections. According to one story, the LDS Church sent people around, to tell folks if they were Democrats or Republicans. They were divided up pretty evenly at first. But slowly the Democratic Sun started setting.

By 1972 high-level Mormon church officials were making statements to the effect that no good Mormon should ever vote Democrat. In spite of that, the state continued to boast a number of Democratic officials, from Governor Scott Matheson, to a number of Representatives to the US Congress. When Governor Matheson finally retired in 1984, and Utah was assigned a new congressional district, the State Senate Republicans saw their opportunity.

Even today, if one were to count Republicans and Democrats in Utah, the count would very likely end up close to even. But most of the Democrats live in Salt Lake City. For a long time this meant that whichever congressional district included Salt Lake City would have a Democratic Representative. That meant that the 2nd District had been electing Democratic Representatives for some years, and the latest, Representative Wayne Owens, was becoming a sincere nuisance to the state's theocratic hierarchy.

Many US States have published maps of their Congressional Districts on the web. I think Utah is too embarrassed to do that.

But the new district made it possible to divide the Democrats in Salt Lake City among three districts. To draw the lines, the new 3rd Congressional District was carved out of the old 2nd District, leaving Salt Lake County nestled between the 1st and the new 3rd District. A corridor of 3rd District territory runs from Utah County, west past the Oquirrh Mountains, and then jogs east again to add the most liberal voters of Salt Lake City's west side to the 3rd District, where they are easily shouted down by the Mormons from "Happy Valley".

The stage was set. Matheson was out of the picture. The Democrats were divided. But to the dismay of the Republicans, Utah elected more Democrats! In fact, in 1993 the 2nd District not only boasted a Democrat, but a woman! So much for getting rid of the hated Wayne Owens. Well, 1993 was supposed to be the "Year of the Woman". The Salt Lake Tribune's editorial cartoonist lampooned the event by depicting the Devil, upon finding that Hell had frozen over, asking, "What happened, did Utah elect another Democrat?"

The next election the Republicans struck back. Enid Greene Waldholz, with the help of illegal monies stolen and otherwise procured by her husband, bought the election away from Karen Shepherd, and the 2nd District was, for the first time in many years, in Republican hands. This was the

Early in 1996 it was discovered that not only did Enid Greene Waldholz's campaign break the law, but that her husband had stolen money from his relatives and from his own family, covering his tracks and breaking the law again by kiting checks. Enid spent four hours telling everyone how she didn't know this was happening.

example that Chris Cannon followed the next election. Sadly (or luckily) Utahns were spared a repeat of Enid "kill Waldholz" Greene's teary performance. Apparently Chris Cannon's wife wasn't quite as enterprising as Enid's now ex-husband, Mr Waldholz.

So why is no one running against Chris Cannon this year?

According to Megan Holbrook, the chair of the Utah Democratic Party, she doesn't want to send anyone in to become a "sacrificial lamb". In other words, the Democrats don't think that they have anyone that can beat Chris Cannon in the 3rd District. They may well be right. Chris Cannon has a weighty warchest that he can swing into battle to the tune of $1.6 million at last count. Most of that is his own money, of course, but Democrats just don't get that rich in this state.