A "light-hearted" conversation after Saturday's state GOP convention has turned into a major headache for the Lieutenant Governor's Office.

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert's chief of staff, Joseph Demma, posted on his Facebook page Sunday that his boss would be running for U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett's seat in 2010, whether Bennett was running again or not.

Herbert -- a Utah County native -- has been trying to walk back Demma's move ever since, including having multiple conversations with Bennett and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. He has assured them he is not after Bennett's seat.

Demma said Tuesday that the whole thing started after some friends mentioned that Herbert handily bested Bennett in the number of votes each received for delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Those friends suggested that with those kinds of numbers, Herbert should run for president, to which Demma responded that perhaps the vice presidency or a Senate seat was more realistic. The conversation, Demma said, was more "goofing off" than serious.

"It was all part of a private discussion I was having with several friends," he said.

It became much less private when he posted "Joseph Michael Demma's Boss (just re-nominated for Lt. Gov.) is now a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010!" on the popular social networking Web site, Facebook.

Several reporters are connected to Demma via Facebook and quickly picked up on the posting. He removed it shortly after, but it was too late. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that he also sent a message from his Blackberry to some Republicans about Herbert's imminent run for U.S. Senate.

"Our LG will, unless he becomes GOV in the interim, file to run as a GOP representative for the US Senate seat in 2010, regardless of who might also be in that race -- the incumbent, included," read the message. The Salt Lake Tribunereported Tuesday that Demma denied sending the Blackberry messages, even though the devices have a unique identifier.

Herbert said Tuesday that he has "zero interest in running against Sen. Bob Bennett."

"I think Joe feels bad, and he apologized to Sen. Bennett's staff and me," he said.

Herbert chalks up the event to staff being excited after the weekend convention, and said he will sit down with Demma to make sure his office isn't putting out a "distorted message."

"There are kinds of instances that maybe I would want to review with him," he said.

It is well-known that Herbert is aiming for a higher office than the one he currently occupies, be it governor or other. He ran for Congress in 1994 and was running for governor in 2004 when he agreed instead to be Huntsman's running mate.

"Why would you close the door on any consideration?" Demma said.

Bennett is serving a third term and is raising money and assembling a campaign staff for a re-election bid in 2010, according to the AP.

Herbert said he and Bennett "both kind of had a little bit of a chuckle" after talking through the situation.

Social Networking

While social network sites like Facebook and MySpace continue to draw millions of members, employers are still trying to figure out what to do when work and Web sites publicly intersect.

The Washington Post recently ran an article about school teachers with Facebook pages many might deem inappropriate. Washington, D.C., "school officials say they have no policies concerning social networking pages or blogs kept by teachers," the Post reported, but that instead they would be handled case by case.

It is getting more and more difficult to keep sites like Facebook and employees apart. According to research by international law firm Deacons, almost a third of 16- to 24-year-olds and a quarter of 25- to 34-year-olds access social networks from work.

Joseph Demma said he posted the Herbert/Bennett issue during his off hours.

While many employees are using the social sites at the office, employers are perhaps changing their minds in favor of access.

"Most employers are trying to figure out how Facebook can make a positive contribution to their operations," says Brian Singh, Managing Director of ZINC Research in Canada in a news release. "Why shut down access when you can leverage your best assets -- your employees?"