Dorchester lament: What it means to be Republican in Oregon

By Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian

March 7, 2011

At the satirical tent show of this year's Dorchester Conference, one of the songs had the refrain "I've got the Blue State blues."

That pretty much sums up one of the themes that ran through this year's conference for Republican activists: this is just an awfully tough state for Republicans.

I've been attending Dorchesters off and on since 1984, and for much of that time Republicans have been arguing about how they can be more successful in Oregon.  This year was no exception.

But I also sensed a stronger feeling that it's not just a matter of Republicans figuring out how to reinvent themselves.  It's also that they are accepting that Oregon is just not like most of the country.

The last election certainly reinforced that attitude.  Thanks to voter unhappiness with the economy, Republicans made historic gains in the U.S. House yet failed by quite a bit to win any additional House seats in Oregon.  Their nominee for governor came up short once again and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., won reelection in a walk.

The only bright spot for Republicans was winning a 30-30 tie in the House, which would sound impressive except for the fact that Republicans actually controlled the Oregon House from 1991 to 2005 (Republicans actually have a bit of an advantage in legislative races because so many Democratic voters are concentrated in Portland).

In his speech to the convention Saturday, U.S. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., put the point in a larger context.  Overall, Republicans picked up 63 seats - just one of them in the West Coast states.  That would be Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler's victory in Southwest Washington in an open seat.  Not a single Democratic incumbent was beat on the West Coast.

As Rep. Greg Walden, Oregon's only GOP congressman pointed out in an interview, "It was a very good year nationwide until you got to the West Coast, until you got to the Cascades and the Sierras."

"The tax and spend message didn't move people as it did elsewhere," added Walden.

So why is that? I asked Walden.  "Ask them," he shrugged.  "I don't know.  If we knew, we would have won a lot more seats."

McCarthy, who was with Walden, jumped in to say that Republicans perhaps need to deliver a more "regional message" on the West Coast that fits in tune with the different values of voters here.

I heard that kind of thing all weekend.  Republicans didn't quite sound like outnumbered Democrats do in Idaho (although one line in the tent show suggested that Republicans might want to consider moving to Idaho), but there was definitely a sense of trying to figure out how to succeed in a state where most voters just seem to have different values.

Rob Cornilles, who lost to Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., in the 1st Congressional District race last year, perhaps best reflected that in a speech recalling his days as a marketing executive for the woeful Los Angeles Clipper.

Cornilles said he didn't succeed in boosting Clipper ticket sales by telling fans they were crazy to root for the vastly more successful Los Angeles Lakers.  Instead, they did it by making Clipper games a more compelling fan experience.

Politics isn't basketball, of course.  Cornilles said Republicans needed to maintain their basic principles of lower taxes and limited government but learn to be flexible on negotiating policy.

Cornilles said he sought to run as a "collaborative conservative," which led some Republicans to question his commitment to the cause. 

"I am a Republican realist cognizant of one unavoidable truth," Cornilles said, "We live in Oregon.  It's different here."