Only a few Democrats were able to survive Utah's GOP 'sweep'
Pollster analyzes campaign results
And in this state, "only Salt Lake County is a bastion for Democrats," said Dan Jones, who polls for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV and teaches political science at the University of Utah.
Jones spoke at the U.'s Hinckley Institute of Politics Wednesday assessing the 2004 elections. Among his observations: Democrats Peter Corroon and Jenny Wilson won the Salt Lake County mayoral and at-large council seats, respectively, despite what Jones termed "a Republican sweep" in Utah.
Those two races were too close to call early Wednesday morning, and Wednesday's editions of the Deseret Morning News listed them as inconclusive.
Donald Dunn, state Democratic Party chairman, said the Corroon/Wilson wins were high points, along with the impressive victory of Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson in the 2nd District.
But Democrats "were disappointed (Scott Matheson) lost the governor's race and that we didn't win more seats in the Utah House and Senate."
The troubles of current GOP County Mayor Nancy Workman bled into the Jim Matheson/Corroon/Wilson races, believes Jones, who did exit polling for KSL.
Swallow declined to concede late Tuesday. Wednesday, he congratulated Matheson and said he won't run against him again for the U.S. House.
"I'm going to get back to my business and my family, the two most important things in my life," Swallow said Wednesday morning. This is Swallow's second loss to Matheson. But the 2002 2nd District loss was by less than 1 percentage point.
Tuesday, Matheson pounded Swallow in a GOP-leaning district by 15 percentage points, 56 percent to 41 percent.
Jones, who has polled in Utah for 30 years, said despite the victories by Matheson, Corroon and Wilson on Tuesday, the Republican sweep in Utah was much like 1984 when Ronald Reagan won a second term and then-Utah House Speaker Norm Bangerter won the governorship.
In this election, Jones' exit polling to identify with which political party voters affiliated showed a 52-19 Republican/Democratic split in Utah — the worst showing for Democrats in recent times, he said.
That helped carry Jon Huntsman Jr. to the governor's chair, even though Democrat Scott Matheson ran a good race, Jones said.
"What I didn't anticipate is just the wonderful, wonderful name" identification that came to Huntsman, the eldest son of billionaire/philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr., Jones said.
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