Salt Lake County Councilman Joe Hatch addressed the July General Meeting of the Humanists of Utah on the prospect of a miracle: the "resurrection" of the Utah Democratic Party. Councilman Hatch shared statistics and strategies, models and memories from art and science of campaigning.

Things are not as dismal as they seem for Utah Democrats-if they could only move 5% of the Republicans to the Democratic party, and another 5% of the Republicans to the Independents, "Democrats could be competitive."

According to Hatch, there are at present three models of how the Democratic Party can gain in numbers in Utah:

1. The David Magleby Model (after the Political Science Professor at Brigham Young University) requires that the Democrats only run very active Mormons, and recruit heavily from LDS Church ranks, especially positions of leadership; it also requires that the Utah Democrats eschew the social liberalism of the National Democratic Party (abortion, gay rights, etc.).
2. The Ted Wilson/Randy Horiuchi Model (after the Salt Lake City Mayor and County Commissioner). Attack the Republicans. In the tradition of "Give 'Em Hell Harry"-tell them the truth and they'll think it's hell. Never miss an opportunity to point out the "right wing whackos."
3. The David Spatafore Model (after the Utah lobbyist), in which you abandon the big seat races (Governor, Senate, Congress) and concentrate on the state legislature. The problem with this was recently illustrated in Congressman Cannon's race. Because there was no Democratic opposition, the Congressman went west to Nevada to campaign against fellow Mormon, Democrat Senator Harry Reid. Reid is now one of the leading Senators in the majority Party in the Senate, but he won the election by only fifty votes.

The Councilman discussed the merits and limitations of each of the models and its prescription for success. After all of the models were considered, his recommendation is for the Democratic Party to concentrate on economic issues. He recounted the election of 1932, when LDS Church leadership was very vocal against the direction of the "New Deal" proposed by candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In spite of the direction from the Brethren, Utahns turned out to vote in overwhelming numbers for FDR and his programs.

This bit of history illustrates that it is in the area of economic justice, Joe Hatch claims, that the Democrats will have the greatest appeal to active Latter-day Saints.

Hatch also disputes the idea that there is direct LDS Church domination of the state's government. "It's more a matter of the culture." He cautions would-be hecklers of the LDS Church: "The one thing you must not do is publicly embarrass the LDS Church. If you do, the community will turn against you." He recommends a conciliatory approach in the spirit of compromise.

"They are pragmatic men," he said.

The Councilman left the Humanists with a picture of Realpolitik in Utah, but also with the hope for a strategy for a new progressive movement.

--Richard Garrard