About last night . . .
From the Hinckley Institute at the UofU . . .
A trio of political wonks have gathered to try to make sense of what happened yesterday.
They agree that, with the exception of Utah County, the two-party system seems to be returning to the state. Hinckley institute director Kirk Jowers says Utah Dems have matured and are running more successfully as "Western Democrats" — a sort of plain-spoken cowpuncher whom voters can't distinguish from a moderate Republican:
Their approach used to be a mouse flipping off the eagle sort of thing and it wasn't very successful.Dan Jones, Utah's polling czar, applauded the Democrats' efforts in Salt Lake County. Besides taking over the County Council, Jones pointed out that the Democrats surprised him in other ways:
Mr. Obama came within two points in Salt Lake County of Mr. McCain. That is really an interesting statistic.And while no Utah resident voted on California's Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage, it was the most controversial political issue in the Beehive because of the Mormon church's heavy involvement in pushing it through. Jones says:
I got more calls in regards to Prop 8 than I did about any issue in Utah. I did.Jowers says that although the LDS church thought it was joining a religious coalition, it became the highest profile backer of Prop 8 — angering gay rights supporters across the nation:
The religious part of politics is going to remain with us for a long, long time.
For the LDS church, it's been a real intense ride. The LDS church played a huge role in passing Proposition 8. Now there will need to be some healing.Quin Monson, assistant director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy and Other Good Stuff, says the LDS church has built bridges with the Christian right through the Prop 8 alliance (I doubt it). And the hard-fought success in banning gay marriage proved one thing beyond a doubt:
The LDS is pretty formidable as a political force.But it came at a cost to the Mormon church, which had been trying to show more compassion to its gay members, Monson says:
It's a difficult time to be a Mormon in California.You can listen to a repeat of the discussion tonight at 7 on KUER.
7 Comments:
You should disclose that Dan Jones is married to Democratic state senator Pat Jones. That hardly makes him a dispassionate observer.
For a newspaper that is always moaning about conflicts of interest, you have an obligation to note this connection.
Dan Jones has been telling us for years that D/R parity is just around the corner.
The real story of the recent election cycle in Utah is that negative campaigning works in Salt Lake County if it is done right.
The barrage of negative attacks on Curtis, Hughes and Buttars was successful in taking out Curtis and came dang close to taking out Hughes and Buttars.
Or how about Davis County, where 74% of the voters just pushed the button with the elephant on it.
Sheep that would follow the elephant off a cliff without a second thought.
Anon 3:32,
You misread the statistics. 74% refers to the percent of straight party voters that voted straight Republican. Typically, total stratight party voters for both parties in around 30% to 40% in any county in Utah.
"It's a difficult time to be a Mormon in California." You want to take a guess as to what it's harder to be in California today thanks to the disgusting meddling of Utahans and the LDS in the politics of our state? You are a vile, hateful people.
Rather than waste 20 million dollars to support a ban on Gay marriage why doesn’t the Mormon church do something useful like spend it to feed the poor or provide shelter for the homeless. There are so many good uses for that money.
What kind of Christian message does it send when you spend that kind of money on political campaigns while the poor go hungry and the sick can't afford to see a doctor.
Handing 20 million dollars over to television stations for anti gay ads is a big waste of money in a world of suffering.
I think Christ would have spent the money to feed the poor.
Gay bashing Mormons should burn in hell. My humble opinion.
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