By Margaret Liljenquist
mja9@email.byu.edu
The big man in the first district may have a run for his money Tuesday.
Kathleen McConkie Collinwood has proven to be up to the challenge.
James V. Hansen, the first district's congressman has been in office for almost 20 years.
With the exception of 1986 and 1990's tighter races, he has won his elections with votes to spare.
In 1998's campaign, his Democratic opponent spent $178,000 of his own money to fund his campaign.
Hansen, who doesn't spend one dime from his own pocket, still won by the same wide margin he is accustomed to -- 68 percent to 30 percent.
So what gives McConkie Collinwood her courage to face Goliath?
For one thing, her name rings familiar to most first district residents.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie, a strong Democrat, is her uncle.
Her mother, a devout Republican, is a Wirthlin.
McConkie Collinwood says she has always used her maiden name in business.
In the 20 years she has practiced law, she has found her maiden name to be more popular in the legal circle.
Her father and uncles were all lawyers. They managed to build a name for themselves on the Wasatch front.
McConkie Collinwood said she enjoys carrying that name.
She only started to use her married name during the campaign.
McConkie Collinwood, a mother of 10, is a rookie in the political arena.
She has never before run for office. But her idealistic beliefs in the political system allow her to start big.
She said win or lose, the political process itself is an honor to be a part of.
Not to be confused as the kind of radical Democrat from which most Utahns shy away, McConckie says she is a Utah Democrat -- a different breed.
McConkie has even received the popular support of actor and political activist Martin Sheen.
McConkie met Sheen at a soup kitchen in Los Angeles.
She said that she admires the passion Sheen has for the environment and nuclear waste.
Sheen has been arrested during his protests on more than one occasion.
Sheen even flew to Utah to spend the day with the Democratic candidate to go around Utah and check out first hand what needed to change.
McConkie Collinwood says that Sheen's method of political activity may not be hers; nevertheless, she admires his pizzazz.
McConkie Collinwood was not the only one to tune into the influence of Hollywood.
Hansen solicited the support of Charleton Heston. Better known as Moses or the president of the NRA.
Heston promotes Hansen's no nonsense approach to politics.
Hansen is as dyed in the wool as they come. He was first elected congressman of the first district in 1980.
Hansen grew up in Farmington, Utah, and had his first experience in public service as a member of the Farmington City Council.
He said his incentive for running for the City Council was to change the city's water system.
The system was changed.
Since then Hansen served in the Utah House in 1972 and was speaker 1979-1980.
Now, in addition to his chair in Washington, Hansen is on several committees.
He is on the Resources Committee and is Chairman of the National Parks, Public Lands Sub Committee and Armed Services Committee.
He was chairman of the Ethics Committee in 1998 to 1999.
Over 90 percent of his campaign monies come from PACs and other individuals.
His main donors come from defense programs and energy and natural resource companies.
McConkie, on the other hand, funds 76 percent of her own campaign.
Due to lack of funds, McConkie has limited her campaign to signs, a little radio and public meetings.
But her campaign funds and vigor have not left her in the cold.
There are four other candidates running for the first district's chair.
However, with less than $500 to run their campaigns, Dave Starr Seely, Reva Marx Wadsworth, Hartley D. Anderson and Matthew D. Frandsen have become practically unassociated with the race.
Even though Hansen's campaign doesn't run television ads, it does have twice as many funds as Scott Howell, the Democratic candidate for senator, who does run television ads.
Hansen's track record allows him to be confident at the polls.
However confident Utah Republicans have been in the past, Democrat's voices are being heard throughout the state.
Candidates like McConkie Collinwood, Matheson and Howell are all running close races in a state famous for its Republican stance on politics.
Whether the political pendulum swings this election or never, the two party process is what McConkie Collinwood calls healthy for Utah.