SALT LAKE CITY -- When President Bush comes to Utah this week to address the American Legion national convention he will find a state where there's widespread support for the war in Iraq and his approval ratings remain high.

But he shouldn't expect a warm reception in the state's largest city, where voters lean Democratic and thousands are expected to join Mayor Rocky Anderson in protesting Bush.

"Utah has a sympathetic population for the president and his policies. What the rest of the country often doesn't realize is Salt Lake City is a fairly liberal jurisdiction in an otherwise fairly conservative state," said Kelly Patterson, a political science professor at Brigham Young University.

There's no question the state is heavily Republican, with Bush winning 72 percent of the vote in the 2004 election.

But in the state capital, a city of about 180,000 people, Democrat John Kerry received 57.9 percent of the vote.

"Salt Lake is Utah's urban center and it attracts a diverse group of people. It attracts newcomers to the area and it's been liberal for quite some time," Patterson said.

An exit poll conducted during the 2003 Salt Lake City mayor's race showed that Wesley Clark, Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton each would have beaten Bush among Salt Lake City voters.

"There are thousands of people who disagree with at least some of the issues or concerns in the current administration's policy," said Crystal Young-Otterstrom, an organizer of a protest planned Wednesday. "It's important because people overlook the state because it is heavily red."

Leading the protest Wednesday will be Anderson, a Democrat who has come under fire from Republicans because of his outspoken anti-war stance. He was not invited to address the American Legion convention and some Legion members have said they are not attending this year's convention because of Anderson.

Anderson led a protest last year when Bush addressed a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention here.

This year, Anderson invited anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan to join him.

In response, the state Republican Party launched a radio advertising campaign encouraging Utahns to call Anderson and tell him to "stop embarrassing Utah."

The city had to hire three temporary workers and set up a new voice mailbox to handle the flood of phone calls.

"(He) goes against the grain of the values of the overwhelming majority of Utahns," said James Evans, chairman of the Salt Lake County Republican Party.

Anderson said that matters little to him.

"I think what embarrasses Utah is the high support, the high approval ratings, for a president that almost everybody else around the country and throughout the world has recognized as being such a dishonest and complete disaster," he said.

But Republicans are not deterred. A counter-rally supporting troops is also planned Wednesday, hours after Sheehan and others speak.

But Debbie Johnson is just as determined to let the country know not everyone in Utah supports Bush. Her son, whose name she did not want released, is serving a second tour of duty in the Army in Iraq.

"This war is obviously illegal and it was based on lies and it's time to bring the troops home -- now," she said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.