PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

There was one surprise and one non-surprise when seven Republican candidates for governor of Oregon showed up this week to debate each other in Salem.

In the surprise, the leading Republican candidate Knute Buehler did not show up for the event. There was no specific reason given for his absence, other than that he had a conflict. One imagines he didn’t want to show up to be part of a basically irrelevant event.

As for the obvious result, all of the candidates took the opportunity to chastise the current governor, Kate Brown, a Democrat, for what they called a litany of big problems. They named poor high school graduation rates, lack of accountability for public officials, and high taxes.

According to the Salem Statesman-Journal, one of the Republican candidates, former Navy Captain Greg Wooldridge, said a “lack of courageous leadership” and an inability to inspire from the Governor’s Office is hurting Oregon.

“This is the best state in the Union and it needs to be reflected in our results. It’s not being reflected in our results because of poor leadership,” Wooldridge said.

Wooldridge, in a closing statement, called for “strong leadership, putting teams of people together and healing the state.”

Other candidates disagreed, suggesting that they had no interest in working across the political aisle with Democrats, another illustration that compromise is often a dirty word in today’s politics.

All of this may not matter in the sense that Republicans have not won the Governor’s Office in Oregon for more than 35 years, dating back to the two terms of Governor Vic Atiyeh — and they probably don’t have a great chance to change the tide this time around.

Early predictions suggest that Governor Brown will have a good chance to win another term.

Her strongest opponent will be Buehler who, current reporting suggests, has kept pace with Brown on the fund-raising trail. Buehler has about $1.9 million on hand for his gubernatorial run, far more than the combined total of his primary opponents. He also has state government experience and the support from top Republicans in the state, including House Republican Leader Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte.

Buehler is a potentially strong candidate, given his background as a physician and a legislator who distinguished himself in Salem.  Still, he is from Bend and legislators from outside Portland don’t often win statewide races.

As we anticipate the race for the state’s top political job, many of us will look back on strong campaigns by two earlier Republicans – Ron Saxton and Chris Dudley. Both ran credible races, but lost.

In the final weeks of his campaign, Saxton suffered when then-president George Bush lost political support, bringing many Republicans down with him, including Saxton who, up to that time, had a bit of a lead according to most polls.

In the case of his campaign, Dudley performed very well around the state in his first attempt at political office. As votes were tallied on the evening of the election, he led until the final hours of the vote-by-mail process. In those hours, he lost when Multnomah County votes came in, giving the race to the Democrat, John Kitzhaber.

Incredibly, Dudley won 29 of Oregon’s 36 counties. He just couldn’t push over the top in Democrat strongholds in metropolitan Portland when public employee labor leaders got out the vote, often hand-carrying ballots to drop-boxes in the final hours, if not minutes, of the campaign.

Republican Dennis Richardson’s win in the most recent Secretary of State’s race gives Republicans some hope that they could accomplish the same feat in the gubernatorial race.

Perhaps, but don’t hold our breath. Still, the several months until the election is an eternity in politics.