August 29, 2008
Spectacle
August 28, 2008
Obama speaks
August 28, 2008
A Bernie Yuman sighting
August 28, 2008
It’s almost showtime
August 28, 2008
Dan Rather pressed for time

Recent Posts

August 29, 2008
Spectacle
August 28, 2008
Obama speaks
August 28, 2008
It’s almost showtime
August 28, 2008
Dan Rather pressed for time
August 28, 2008
Tonight’s best line

Archives

August 26, 2008 · 1:58 PM

The Reddest of the Red

By T.R. Witcher

St. George journalist Ed Kociela, local editor of The Spectrum, tries to make some sense of it all.

Photo: John Katsilometes

ObamaQuest @ St. George, UT

You need to upgrade your Flash Player

Ed Kociela, local news editor at The Spectrum, has the soulful face of a poet, and the good humor to match. Utah, he says, is a 3.2 state—3.2 beer, 3.2 wives per husband, and 3.2 Republicans for every one Democrat.

Kociela moved here from Los Angeles 13 years ago to escape the SoCal congestion. Much of the landscape along Interstate 15 was barren then. Now, car dealerships and hotels dot the landscape and Kociela finds himself in a town that is fast becoming a small city—at one point St. George was posting 12 percent growth for several years straight.

To a Las Vegan’s St. George still looks small and peaceful. On a red-rocked bluff overlooking town, the heart of the city is a square patch of thick trees; at the center stands the baroque St. George Temple, the oldest operating temple of the Mormon Church.

From way up here, St. George doesn’t look like a consolidated block of development (at least not yet). Instead, this city of 75,000 looks more like a series of village-like developments connected by the Interstate, which snakes through the area like a concrete river.

But it’s going through many of the same growing pains as Vegas—such as water and crushed housing values. (The town’s Starbucks are still open for business, though.)

As Kociela makes clear, more than the LDS members, more than the Jazz fans, Utah is home to conservatives. This is the reddest of the red states. An effort to start a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was, he says, discouraged by the main Chamber of Commerce.

Utah hasn’t gone Democratic since LBJ in 1964. And it’s probably not going to go Democratic this year, either. But the talk around here is how Barack Obama is leading John McCain in fundraising throughout the state. “That’s gotta tell you something,” he says, perhaps a sign of changing times.

Kociela liked Bill Richardson, but has responded to the enthusiasm Obama has generated among the young. Kociela is a child of the Sixties. He remembers his passion for Bobby Kennedy and George McGovern, and he “remembers what we got stuck with.”

Even if matters in this red state are foregone, the energy surrounding the November election is decidedly not. “People are engaged this time around.”

Link

Post a comment

Commenting requires registration.

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Weekly editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Full comments policy.

Already Registered? Log In Below.
Username:
Password:  Forgotten your password?
 

Videos

Video Library

Flash is required

Cocktail of the Week

Cocktail of the Week Dec 4, 2008
by Xania Woodman

Smash Pumpkin

It's all about economy and recycling really. Wondering what to do with those leftover cans of pumpkin puree in the pantry, the bowl of decorative mini-pumpkins and all those seasonal ...
Read more...