GOP triumphs in Utah

Crowded polling places Tuesday and tight races led to a few too-close-to-call elections early today in Utah and across the nation.

But like other state and local contests in the Beehive State the past 30 years, one thing is clear: Republicans reign in Utah.

Yet for the third election in a row, Utah Democrats' one bright spot is U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson.

Matheson spanked Republican John Swallow in what might be considered a landslide. At press time with 70 percent of the vote in, Matheson had a solid 10 percentage point lead in the Republican-leaning 2nd Congressional District.

Still, Utah Republicans have much to crow about:

• Jon Huntsman Jr. is Utah's new GOP governor.

• Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, gets a third, six-year term and returns to a thin-GOP-majority U.S. Senate.

• Reps. Rob Bishop and Chris Cannon, both R-Utah, have two more years each in a still-Republican-controlled U.S. House.

• Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, a Republican, has another four years.

• Republicans keep solid, two-third majorities in the Utah House of Representatives and Senate.

• And as expected, President Bush carried the state by a huge majority.

Late Tuesday, Democrats were still holding out hope that their Salt Lake County mayoral candidate, Peter Corroon, may yet win the office vacated by scandal-prone GOP Mayor Nancy Workman.

Early vote totals showed Corroon leading Republican Ellis Ivory. Absentee ballots had not yet been added in. And any write-in votes for Ivory on absentee ballots wouldn't be counted, since he was certified to the actual ballot as the GOP nominee last Thursday. In addition, thousands of provisional ballots in the county must be reviewed, and if found legal, counted by Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen over the next several days. And at press time, a winner could not be predicted.

Three new state constitutional amendments were adopted. Starting in January:

• The Legislature can call itself into an impeachment session.

• Public universities can accept stock in private businesses spun off from their research.

• And — in the most controversial measure — marriage will only be between a man and a woman, with no other union allowed to have the same benefits as traditional marriages.

The marriage amendment — Amendment 3 — may well be challenged in federal court, with similar lawsuits threatened in the other 10 states where gay-marriage-banning amendments were on ballots Tuesday.

Dozens of Utah judges and justices were also retained to the bench Tuesday.

At press time, a measure to impose a new, small sales tax to float a $150 million bond for open-space preservation was losing.

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