Salt Lake Tribune – Reid proof that good Mormons can also be Democrats

Sen. Harry Reid's ascension to the top of the U.S. Senate is an unexpected victory for a tiny band of beleaguered Utahns: LDS Democrats. His most vocal critics? Other Mormons. Despite the fact that Reid held weekly Family Home Evenings and sent three sons on two-year missions for the church, and all five of his children were married in LDS temples, some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints question his faith because of his politics.

Utah politics defy description for anyone outside the state interested in how things really work in local government. We'll see what happens in the years to come, but it's doubtful that attitudes will change very quickly. Utahns are very set in the views, whether conservative Mormon Republican or liberal [insert belief or personal philosophy here] Democrat. Sometimes I think Utah's Great Divide – the social barrier that is rarely crossed between the LDS and everyone else is a pair of trenches on either side of a social No Man's Land, rather than a wall.