Rocky eyeing national post?
• The Salt Lake mayor's image protesting President Bush's visit to his city was splashed across CNN this week.
• The New York Times has regularly interviewed him about his confrontations with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — be it about mall construction or Main Street Plaza.
• Last month, ABC News sent a crew to cover Anderson's "Sundance Summit: A Mayor's Gathering on Climate Protection," an assembly that drew such bigwigs as Al Gore and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
• And during his re-election bid in 2003, Anderson earned contributions from people like Franklin and Emeline Haney of Tennessee, who normally put their money behind the best and brightest the Democratic Party has to offer.
Now, a week after Anderson sent out an e-mail calling for a massive protest during Bush's speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center downtown, many are speculating that all this attention will land the mayor in Washington some day. Some go so far as to suggest Anderson is purposefully gaining attention to pave the way for greater political aspirations.
"To me, anybody in elective office, anybody in any position of leadership, has an obligation to stand up and speak out on these issues and not worry about political implications," Anderson told reporters after speaking at the anti-Bush rally he helped organize last week. "The voters, if I ever ran again, which I may not, if they don't like it, then they'll vote somebody else in. But I think the people here are energized. I think the people throughout this area aren't going to stand for it any more either locally, across our state, or nationally. We've got to change things. And the direction we're headed in is a disaster."
As he says, Anderson may not run for mayor again and he seems legitimately undecided. Still, he scoffs at people who say he's ripe for some federal appointment, maybe in the Environmental Protection Agency or some post where he could use his law degree and bulldog attitude.
"I don't think President Bush is really focusing on me" for a federal job, Anderson joked. "(Sen.) Orrin Hatch might want me to be on the federal bench."
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