Dave Hansen: Dean of Utah’s Campaign Pros

By Greg Jarrard

          The 6-ton pachyderm took one lumbering step after another. It pushed aside the curtains and headed over to the VIP table. The secret service agents exchanged confused glances.

          “You can’t bring that thing in here!”

          “Try and stop us” was the reply.

          Before the agent could get his superior to advise him, the animal was in front of the candidate. After a couple of handstands and a curled-trunk salute, it held out its appendage, and Ronald Wilson Reagan received the animal’s “handshake.” The photo was splashed across the front pages of newspapers all over the country: Candidate Reagan and the symbol of the Grand Old Party pressing the flesh in Utah! The trainer’s only comment was, “I’m glad I didn’t need the shovel.”

          It was Dave Hansen’s finest hour.

          Former high school teacher Dave Hansen was running his first major event, the 1980 Utah State Republican Convention. The elephant was an afterthought, thanks to a circus performing at the old Salt Palace and Hansen’s quick thinking. He had been named the executive director of the state party the year before, right after he helped Bill Stevenson get elected chairman. For Hansen, though, the elephant stunt wasn’t the highlight of the event.

          “It was meeting Gov. Reagan. He was as warm and as genuine as he appeared on TV.  It was a privilege to be part of history. I’ll never forget it.”

          Mixing candidates with large mammals can have its downside as many a Republican political operative can confirm (Rep. Burton’s “A Man to Match Our Mountains” campaign where the congressman rode off into the sunset and political history thanks to an out-of-state and out-of-touch ad agency’s moment of brilliance is a case in point). But for the young Dave Hansen and Utah Republicans wild about Reagan, the elephant episode was a genuine coup and one that has yet to be topped in the Beehive State.

          Critters of all kinds were a frequent sight in David Hansen’s formative years in Syracuse, Utah. Most of them were just turkeys and horses, however. Hansen left the wheat fields of northern Utah for Brigham Young University to get a teaching certificate which he used for a few years at Layton and Clearfield High Schools. But, he couldn’t leave politics alone. He dabbled in one campaign after another. Then, in the early 70s, he jumped at the opportunity to work at it full time when he accepted the job as the executive director of the Montana State Republican Party. He returned to Utah — and teaching — in 1974. In 1978, he helped Bill Stevenson with a voter identification project in Davis County, and when Stevenson ran for state party chair the following year, he tapped Hansen to run his campaign.

          It was Dave’s first win and one that took him out of teaching for good.

          “Bill gave me a great opportunity in politics; I view him as one of my mentors, along with Sen. Hatch, Dick Richards, Kent and Alice Shearer, and Chuck Bailey, among others. You have to learn from somebody, and I learned from the best,” Hansen said.

          Regarding Sen. Hatch, Hansen’s current boss, he notes that the senator’s strengths are that “he is very, very bright. And he has limitless energy. He simply understands the process and knows how to get things done. Utahns are really getting their money’s worth.

          “Working with him closely, I know for a fact that he really cares about helping people. He’s a good, decent person who stands up for things he believes in — whether they are popular or not. Plus, it’s a delight working with him.” Hansen added.

          Looking back, Hansen enjoyed several political “highs.”

          “Certainly, it would be hard to top the 1980 campaign, especially the Inflation Fighter breakfast where the elephant-Reagan encounter took place. Another was 1982 when Sen. Hatch first won re-election in his toughest race (against Ted Wilson). But, election nights are always fun — especially in the 1980s and 90s when Utah Republicans were cleaning up nearly all the time.”

          Hansen is also one to appreciate irony disguised as opportunity, particularly when it hits him across the head. One such “opportunity” was the visit of the flamboyant former Secretary of Interior and favorite of conservatives, James Watt.

          “Everybody wanted to meet with Watt. And the party needed to raise money. So, I figured, why not sell time slots with the secretary, let’s say $500 for every 15-minute segment? So, I did that. I had the secretary’s time blocked out for a couple of hours or so and hoped to raise enough money in that period of time to at least cover my salary for the month. I was quite satisfied with myself.”

          Then, Hansen reports, he got an unexpected phone call on a Saturday morning. Very unexpected.

          “The caller said he was President Benson. President Ezra Taft Benson. He said he understood that Watt was coming to town. And he wondered if he could spend some time with the secretary,” Hansen explained. “How much time?” Hansen queried, swallowing hard (since he had already “sold” that time!).

          “Oh, we’ll see. Maybe a half hour or so,” (Or so?!!) Hansen worried.

          Hansen kissed that money goodbye but did make a new friend that day.

          On another occasion, he had another cabinet secretary in town to entertain. This time the man running the Department of Housing and Urban Development had just left a meeting with LDS Church officials downtown and Hansen was driving him to the airport.

          “He had more questions than a five-year-old: If President Benson is the head of the church, then who are those other presidents (referring to his counselors in the First Presidency). And those other twelve guys? Who were they? And then the Seventy. Seventy? Explain that to me,” the official asked.

          Hansen took a deep breath; they were almost to the passenger drop-off area, none too soon. He took out a card and wrote a name on it: T.H. Bell, a former Utahns, member of the LDS Church and also a cabinet secretary (of education).

          “Sorry, we’re out of time. But, I’m certain Ted Bell can answer all of these questions better than me,” Hansen said as he waved goodbye. Bell would be happy to play the missionary!

          Another political apex, for Hansen at least, was the 1994 congressional election.

          “After more than 40 years, the Republicans wrested control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats,” Hansen reflected. “That was a definite ‘high.’”

          Hansen had left the state party in the early 80s and, after several years serving in state government as the Deputy Lt. Governor to Val Oveson, he embarked on his current career as political consultant. He took an official position with the Republican National Committee where he worked when Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America helped push Republicans into power in Congress.

          “Nineteen ninety-four was a watershed year in that the party didn’t lose one incumbent race in either the Senate or the House. And we picked up enough other seats to gain control of the House. That was a very good year for Republicans.”

Hansen moved on to become the political director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee where he worked from 1997 through 2001. Then, he returned officially to Utah (he never actually “moved”) to consult on several key races, including the 2002 John Swallow campaign for Congress.

          “If I have had any real low points in my career, I guess the Swallow loss is right up there,” Hansen explained. “However, we were 20 points down at one point but did come within 1,501 votes of victory. If you asked 20 people, you’d get 20 suggestions on what we should have done to win — and they all would have been right. If only we had done one more mailing… if only we hadn’t gone dark when we were short of money … if only this or that had happened. When you come that close and lose, it’s tough.”

          In the 30+ years Hansen has been playing the political game, he hasn’t lost very many. And for a while, he even kept a diary.

          “Then I went back to read it and said to myself: I don’t want anybody to get hold of this. There wasn’t anything illegal inside, but a lot of information that could have been hurtful or demeaning, so like Nixon’s 18-minute gap, my material is officially missing,” Hansen added with a laugh.

          Everybody has an opinion about political campaigning, what works and what doesn’t and Hansen has heard it all. How about those Utah candidates who use “hired guns,” political experts from back east?

          “I think if an outside consultant can come in and really assist a campaign with helpful advice, that’s good,” he said. “The problem is, too many offer a cookie-cutter formula where they just change the part that says ‘your name goes here.’  Usually, it is a slash-and-burn, negative campaign that just doesn’t work here. Yes, there are times, like the 1980 Jim Hansen-Gunn McKay race, when you can draw ‘helpful comparisons.’ In those cases, a challenger like Jim had to draw contrasts. It worked, and it wasn’t nasty. But, for the most part, outside experts come in and don’t understand Utahns or the culture and hurt more than they help.”

          “Nothing is more effective than good, old-fashioned common sense. You have to ask yourself, ‘What is the right thing to do,’ and then be smart enough to do it. There are people with that uncanny sense. Mike Leavitt is one of those people. He is gifted enough politically to be able to see around corners. It worked well for himself and for the candidates he helped over the years,” Hansen said.

          Hansen has demonstrated that kind of uncanny sense himself. In February, 1984, he joined a couple of politicos, Mark Hurst and Doug Foxley, for a golf game during a late winter thaw. They invited the speaker of the Utah House, a homebuilder named Norm Bangerter, to join them. By the time they were back in the clubhouse, the three hackers had become backers, having convinced Bangerter to challenge popular Democrat Scott Matheson for the governorship. Hansen must have seen around the corner himself that day because before the spring thaw, Matheson had decided not to run for a third term. Hansen, Hurst and Foxley went on to help Bangerter become the first Republican governor in 20 years.

          Over the years, Hansen’s accumulated political insight has served him well. And now it is put to good use as he helps Sen. Orrin Hatch utilize his PAC funds for various candidates and causes.

          “People forget that fund-raising is an ongoing effort. Even though the senator has enough to fund a future race of his own, there are many candidates — local, regional and national — that could use Hatch’s help. Last year, both Utah Republican congressmen and one challenger benefited from Hatch’s largesse. State and county parties got needed funds to run their candidates’ races. It’s an important part of the process,” Hansen said.

          What about challenges the Republican Party is facing as the 2008 presidential race is starting to heat up, far in advance of any primaries or conventions. Hansen has his opinions:

          “I believe the GOP is still looking for the next Ronald Reagan; it’s a vacuum waiting to be filled. Many thought it was going to be Virginia’s George Allen, but then he lost his Senate race. Nowadays, the campaign seasons has been stretched to the point that candidates may be able to afford more than one gaffe. Candidates have their ups and downs. When Howard Dean performed his famous screech, that did him in. He was toast. Maybe this year we will see candidates have a series of highs and lows. The question is, how big is the pool of donors? Will it all be exhausted well before the 2008 conventions? We will have to wait and see?”

          What about Mitt Romney?

          Hansen is impressed: “He has shown to be a phenomenal fund-raiser. And he looks like he came right out of Central Casting. He has come quite far fairly early in the process. As far as the Mormon thing goes, Romney ought to consider doing some genealogy and see if maybe, just maybe he is the second cousin once removed from Dale Earnhardt. That could come in handy in the Bible belt!”

          Or perhaps Romney’s folks should look back to 1980 and ask themselves: What about that guy with the elephant? Is he available?

          Hansen could probably find a shovel, just in case.

Greg Jarrard is a veteran ad man, writer and publisher best known for running paid ad campaigns for Republican candidates. His recent book, "A Jack Mormon's Travel Guide," is available at Deseret Book. He resides in South Jordan where he digs weeds and claims it is a garden.