 Cook ran for Utah Board of Education in 1984, Mayor of Salt Lake City in a 1985 special election, and Salt Lake County Commission in 1986, all to no avail.Cook made his first bid for Governor of Utah in 1988, finishing third with 21% of the vote.His candidacy siphoned off enough votes from the Republican and Democratic candidates, incumbent governor Norm Bangerter and former Salt Lake City mayor Ted Wilson, that Bangerter won by just a 40% plurality over Wilson's 38% of the vote.