Oregon Republicans’ straw poll snubs Mannix

GOP salves sting of 2002 by speculating on chances for 2006

By Don Hamilton

The Portland Tribune, Mar 8, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

SEASIDE Ñ If Kevin Mannix is the Republican front-runner for governor next year, he showed only a tepid hold on the affections of his party at the annual Dorchester Conference.

Mannix, the unsuccessful 2002 nominee, lost the conference straw poll to Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who’s not a candidate. But perhaps worse, he was hit by a withering stream of ridicule in the Tent Show, a Saturday night staple of the conference with songs, skits and political humor.

In a satire of “The Apprentice,” he was told, “You’re fired!” One performer feigned surprise at his candidacy, saying, “The party usually opposes assisted suicide.” And another suggested Mannix marry a Kennedy Ñ ˆ la Arnold Schwarzenegger Ñ and step aside to make way for Walden, who says he’s running for re-election next year to his 2nd Congressional District seat.

The straw poll vote was 52 for Walden, 50 for Mannix, 33 for Portland lawyer Ron Saxton and the rest scattered among other Republicans. In fact, many delegates privately expressed uncertainty over Mannix, the party’s 2002 nominee and now the state party chairman.

Mannix shrugged it off, calling Walden a “ghost candidate” who’s not running.

The skittishness reflects the concerns of many Oregon Republicans over the race. Republicans have lost the last five races for governor and next year will face incumbent Democrat Ted Kulongoski, who’s been buoyed by a recovering economy.

The party has struggled to reconcile its successes nationally, where Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress, with disappointments back home. Except for Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican who hasn’t won a partisan statewide race in Oregon since 1994.

The recent losses carry a greater sting, though, because they’ve been accompanied by important successes. The GOP has controlled the Legislature for most of the last decade, and voters often support Republican causes in state ballot measures on such issues as taxes, property rights and gay marriage.

Advice from the north

The 500 Dorchester delegates heard advice on how to turn things around from their keynote speaker, Dino Rossi, who wasn’t elected governor of Washington last year but came closer Ñ 129 votes Ñ than any Republican since 1980, a losing streak of six. He said he did well by reaching beyond the traditional GOP base.

He urged Republicans to go where they’re not expected to go, say what they’re not expected to say and reach voters they’re not expected to reach.

“You can’t win with just Republicans alone,” Rossi said after his speech. “My goal was to make it easy for Democrats and independents to vote for me. Instead of a partisan majority, I made a philosophical majority.”

He described how he would not be “led out into the weeds” of controversial social issues and campaigned in union halls and pushed for greater health care and social services.

The Oregon governor’s seat but no Senate seat will be on the ballot in 2006, and the only other statewide posts available are the nonpartisan seats of the Bureau of Labor and Industries and superintendent of public instruction.

Next year’s field of GOP candidates for governor is a long way from certain but so far includes some familiar names.

Mannix plans to announce his campaign and resign as party chairman by late summer. Republicans also speculate that Saxton, who lost in the 2002 primary, may run again.

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