Not What You'd Expect

Frank Pinanelli & LaVarr Web have a column in the Deseret News that deals with Utah politics. It’s written in the form of a colloquy with Pinanelli representing the left and Webb speaking for the right.

Their Sunday column began with a discussion of Love’s program to redefine the federal government as the department of defense. But if you read deep enough there was a concluding conversation about the McAdams / Crockett race for county mayor.

Pignanelli’s contribution to the discussion proved only that he had visited each campaign’s web site and accepted both at face value. The one interesting philip he offered was a characterization of Crockett as “active LDS.” I have no idea what source Pinanelli used for this assertion, and perhaps it’s only Crockett’s citation of BYU as his alma mater.

This is interesting only because here-to-fore there’s been extensive discussion of McAdams’ religious affiliation, and none about Crockett’s. Perhaps this is because any story about a devout Mormon running as a Democrat has a “man bites dog” quality attached to it. And Crockett's candidacy doesn't provide the same narrative interest. But still, this is a dramatic reversal of what you’d expect from previous contests between a Democrat and a Republican.

Webb’s portion of the conversation was more insightful and more informative. He makes the point that the favored candidate of the downtown business community is Ben McAdams. (Yes. Ben McAdams.) Webb claims that these business leaders disapprove of Crockett because he “opposes every big project that would make Salt Lake County a world-class county with a great quality of life.”

Pretty strong stuff from a Republican commentator, and another dramatic reversal of what you’d expect from a race between a Democrat and a Republican.