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Hoping to build on its successes in the 2008 general election, the Salt Lake County Democratic Party announced this week the appointment of an executive director — a position that has been unoccupied for decades.

Jeremy Slaughter, a veteran of political campaigns across the country who holds a University of Utah master’s degree in public administration and most recently worked for the Utah Housing Coalition, takes over the reins as county Democrats prepare for 2010.

Salt Lake County’s blue party ran roughshod over GOP contenders in 2008, unseating Republicans in four state legislative races, taking control of the County Council for the first time in almost a decade and maintaining control of the county’s executive office.

County party Chairman Weston Clark said Tuesday that filling the long-empty position is part of a strategy to keep gaining ground in one of the country’s reddest states.

“We really feel like we have a lot of momentum out of the last election,” Clark said. “Having an executive director, who is working on party issues on a day-to-day basis, will help stabilize and professionalize the organization.”

Clark noted that it is not uncommon for parties to experience an “incumbent lull” following a change of the U.S. president. Having an experienced full-time executive, Clark said, is a shift in the party’s “ground game” that he hopes will impact the 2010 contests.

County Democrats haven’t had an executive director since the 1980s, when Blaze Wharton held the position.

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com