Composer Kurt Bestor has always been a kind of middle-of-the-road guy, both with his music (which is accessible and quite popular in Utah) and his politics.

"I was Switzerland for a long time," Bestor told me Tuesday night at the Utah Democratic Party's victory celebration at the Salt Lake City Radisson. "At a certain point, you've got to stand up and stand for something."

A decade ago, Bestor - who lives in Utah County - was approached by Utah Democratic officials about running for Congress against then one-term incumbent Chris Cannon. He turned them down.

This year, though, Bestor decided to get involved. "I honestly had just grown tired of feeling powerless," Bestor said, adding that state Democratic chairman Wayne Holland urged Bestor "to use that name for more than selling Christmas music. ... I decided I'd be better off to use my name for political things I believe in."

Bestor got involved in a big way this year. He was a poll worker in the primary, and a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Attending the victory party at the Radisson was "kind of the concluding chapter of what I've been in personally," Bestor said. "I had to come here and see it through."

Labels: Barack Obama, Kurt Bestor, politics