This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Both 1st Congressional District candidates going head to head on ballots Tuesday portray themselves as hometown boys out to represent "Utah's values" and defy the political mold.

Playing off the district's right-leaning tendencies, one-term Rep. Rob Bishop is campaigning as the "right man in the right place at the right time."

The 53-year-old Brigham City resident acknowledges the past two years were a warm-up spent amassing political capital. But he says experience, coupled with his seat on important House committees - military, space and science - make him the best candidate to champion Utah causes, most notably sparing Hill Air Force Base from future military closures.

"Send me back and we can do some marvelous things," Bishop said last week at a Tooele Chamber of Commerce meeting. "If I go, I go as I am, a conservative Utahn looking after your interests."

Thompson, a small-business owner and the undisputed underdog in the race, says Bishop indeed has looked after interests, but they belong to powerful corporations and the GOP, not voters.

"My opponent is just going along with the pack and voting along party lines," Thompson said, citing Bishop's support of a plan to resume nuclear testing in Nevada. "I don't think people in this state want to be downwinders again."

The 46-year-old Logan native also slams Bishop for "trying to sneak higher-level radioactive waste" into Utah by plotting to reclassify waste from Ohio as commercial so that Tooele-based Envirocare could accept it. Bishop formerly lobbied for Envirocare and has accepted campaign donations from the waste-disposal company.

Environmentalists rallied and the plan was scuttled, despite Bishop's contention that the waste was no more dangerous than the material that Envirocare now accepts.

"In secret, this is how we do things in Republican-dominant Utah. That's just not good government," said Thompson.

Bishop now declines to discuss the safety merits of various types of radioactive waste, deferring to scientists and the Legislature, but is quick to stress that he opposes storing nuclear waste in Skull Valley as proposed by a consortium of nuclear power companies.

On environmental issues, Bishop has a history of bucking prevailing scientific or regulatory opinion. While in Congress, he took sides with the town of Perry in its battle with the Army Corps of Engineers over a plan to build a sewage lagoon in sensitive wetlands near the Great Salt Lake. His criticism of a Corps' regulator forced his transfer.

Bishop first earned a reputation as a strict conservative driven by ideology in the late '90s during his 16 years in the state Legislature, including a stint as House speaker. Back then he favored permanent federal tax cuts and a flat one-rate income tax. He supported expanding the rights of gun owners and opposed federal meddling in local schools, such as President Bush's No Child Left Behind reform plan.

Two years in Congress haven't changed his outlook. But he says he has learned to keep his sardonic wit in check.

"The chairman of one of my subcommittees thanked me for not skewering him and said, 'We'll have to give you a higher profile next year,' " Bishop says.

Thompson, who has been elected three times to Logan's City Council, also has been criticized for being inflexible.

He was the only dissenting vote on a proposal to expand the city's power plant and he joined a lawsuit claiming that the city broke zoning guidelines by approving it. His side prevailed in court. But after a quick ordinance change, the plant was built.

Though a Democrat, Thompson shares his opponent's conservative views on education and guns. He says the recently expired ban on assault weapons was "ineffective," and believes the federal government "has no business telling our schools how to operate."

And like Bishop, he calls protecting Hill AFB his "No. 1 priority."

Where the two differ is on government spending and so-called morality issues, such as stem-cell research and gay marriage.

And Thompson is focusing his campaign efforts on finding creative ways to "spread the good Democratic word."

On the issues

* Social Security

Bishop: Supports allowing citizens to opt out of the system and put their money in pre-tax personal savings plans.

Thompson: Skeptical of any privatization scheme and believes government should stop raiding the funds.

* Health care

Thompson: Supports allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs from Canada.

Bishop: Opposes "reimportation" of drugs and touts Republican-led prescription drug benefit for seniors.

* Iraq war

Bishop: Says reconstruction is on-target and happening more quickly than postwar efforts in Japan and Germany.

Thompson: Argues that U.S. troops "are sitting ducks" without more armor and munitions, and criticizes Republicans for having no exit plan.

* Stem cell research

Thompson: Supports, because "it promises to save lives."

Bishop: Opposes, because it could harm the "unborn."

* Gay marriage

Bishop: Favors "traditional marriage" and states' rights to define who can marry and who can't.

Thompson: Favors "traditional marriage," but opposes using the constitution to "discriminate against any class of Americans."

Bio boxes

Steve Thompson

* Money raised: $71,000

* Political experience: Three-time Logan city councilman

* Education: Political science B.A. from Utah State University

* Profession: Owner of Taki Casuals, a graphic design firm specializing in T-shirts

* Personal: Was a "long-haired" drummer in a college rock band and married his high school sweetheart, Tamara Pluth

Rob Bishop

* Money raised: $375,000

* Political experience: One-term congressman, 16 years in Utah Legislature, Utah House speaker and chairman of state Republican Party

* Education: Political science B.A. from the University of Utah

* Profession: 28-year history teacher at Box Elder High School

* Personal: Married to Jeralynn Hansen Bishop, has five children and regularly plays softball with congressional staff

The challenger: a Democrat with Libertarian ideals of limited government whose voting record as a Logan city councilman won him the label contrarian.

The incumbent: a Republican whose background as a high school history teacher sets him apart from fellow fat cat politicians.