Recent independently conducted polls have shown that Ralph Becker (Democrat) will win the Nov. 6 election against Dave Buhler (Republican) by at least a 20 percent margin. Becker’s campaign has been an exemplary case study of how to cultivate and control electoral momentum and, to be fair, both candidates have comported themselves respectfully throughout the race.

In early April, one poll (conducted for the benefit of KSL by Dan Jones and Associates) showed that Becker did not stand out among the 10 candidates who had declared their intentions to seek the city’s top job. In fact, the two candidates who registered double-digit recognition at the time were Jenny Wilson (20 percent) and Buhler (12 percent). By September, just days before the primary, polls showed that Becker had made it a three-way race too close to call. And, since then, Becker has steadily extended his lead. His campaign certainly shows that he has not taken his comfortable lead for granted.

Not surprisingly, turnout for the Nov. 6 election will be less dictated by the mayoral race than by interest in the controversial referendum for school vouchers. Two polls taken before the final weekend of the campaign showed the referendum would fail by a margin of 20 percentage points or more – an outcome that seems consistent with those who also support Becker. The weather is expected to be spectacular across the state but little else will drive large numbers to the polls. Turnout is expected to be around a quarter of a million statewide with the lion’s share in the heavily populated northern areas of the state. Typically, general elections bring a million or so voters to the polls.

There is one local race, however, that exemplifies compellingly the link between effective downtown revitalization and philosophical approach and that’s the downtown district council race between the incumbent Nancy Saxton and challenger Luke Garrott, a University of Utah political science professor.

Saxton, whose only significant point of note has been her relentless contentious feud with Mayor Rocky Anderson, will not be an effective nor reliable ally in a downtown vision that challenges the status quo. Saxton has praised in toto the proposed City Creek Center development and has advocated a timid, cautious, ineffectual approach toward developing the central entertainment district.

On the other hand, Garrott is temperamentally and ideologically suited to becoming a valuable City Council member who will speak articulately and persuasively to the concerns about how downtown development progresses with local entrepreneurs, affordable housing, green planning, and effective public transit in mind.

With the impending arrival of the Becker administration, it is the opportune moment to turn out Saxton whose record hardly deserves the merit of a third four-year term on the council. In fact, Saxton has stressed that the essential difference between her and Garrott is his emphasis on theoretical approach and hers on practical application. The petty, contentious, visceral demeanor that has been the hallmark of her city council tenure is a reasonable pretext to refute her claim. Garrott will certainly bring a pragmatic measured intelligence to ensuring that this year’s municipal election is, indeed, a mandate for smart downtown development.