News Highlights: The Daily Herald editorializes
against straight-party voting. Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy
Workman continues to draw attention
in news stories and an editorial. The Deseret Morning News
looks
at what happens if Workman is charged with a felony, while
The Salt Lake Tribune says concerns
were raised early on about the positions in question. The
Tribune also editorially
supports Dave Yocom's decision to employ a bipartisan review
panel in the case.
“The whole history of the progress of human
liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims
have been born of earnest struggle. If there is no struggle,
there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and
yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing
up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.
They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”
- Frederick
Douglass (1818-1895)
Presidential Election Won't
Produce Much Heat in Utah
As a rock-solid Bush state in this year's presidential election,
Utah isn't going to get much attention from either Pres. George
Bush or John Kerry. They will campaign
frenetically and spend tens of millions of dollars in the battleround
states, but Utahns will see little firsthand campaign action.
Charlie Cook, publisher of cookpolitical.com
and a National Journal columnist, breaks down the battle for
electoral votes this way:
Rock solid Bush states: Alabama, Alaska, Idaho,
Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming
(110 Electoral votes).
Rock solid Kerry states (and D.C.): Connecticut
, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
York, Rhode Island (71 electoral votes).
Likely Bush states: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee (64 electoral votes).
Likely Kerry states: California, Illinois,
New Jersey, Vermont (94 electoral votes).
Leaning Bush states: Arizona, Colorado, Virginia,
West Virginia (37 electoral votes).
Leaning Kerry states: Delaware, Maine, Michigan,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington (63 electoral votes).
That gives Kerry 16 states plus D.C., with 228 electoral votes,
42 short of the 270 needed for victory. Bush has 25 states,
with 211 electoral votes, 59 short of victory and 17 votes behind
Kerry.
That leaves nine states with a combined 99 electoral votes
up for grabs. They are Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Those nine states
will be the real battleground.
The battleground states and leaning states will get enormous
attention over the next four months. For Utah and other states
not targeted, Cook said watching the campaign “will be the equivalent
of sitting in the last row of the end zone in a very big stadium:
Voters there will be able to see the campaign, but none of the
big plays will be very clear and there won't be much excitement.”
- LaVarr Webb
