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.

I have managed to have several more thoughts about the just-completed election, in part because I am not watching political ads anymore. My thoughts are these:

• If you wonder if there are still “two-Oregons,” wonder no more. There still are two.
• If you wonder whether the urban-rural divide in Oregon occurs nationally, wonder no more. It does.
• If you wonder whether those who won can get about the business of turning from campaigning to governing, keep wondering. We won’t know until we see or don’t see results.

A bit more on each of these thoughts.

THE TWO OREGONS: Back 20 years or so ago when I served as deputy director on the Oregon Economic Development Department, now called Business Oregon, I saw both Oregons. It was far easier to recruit new companies to urban areas than to rural Oregon.

IF there was a role for government – not always the case — it also was easier to help urban companies to expand than it was to assist companies in rural Oregon.

Then, when I worked as a private sector lobbyist for 25 years, I saw the Two Oregons from a political perspective. Almost to a person, Democrats represented urban Oregon and Republicans represented rural Oregon.

They couldn’t see anything from the other’s perspective. Nor, could urban legislators conceive of issues in rural Oregon. And the reverse was true, as well.

Consider this new fact.

Democrat Kate Brown, in her victory over Republican challenger, Knute Buehler, won only five counties — Multnomah, Washington, Clatsop, Lincoln, Lane, Benton. Yet, the margin in those areas was enough to offset the fact that Buehler won everywhere else in Oregon – and couldn’t pull enough urban votes in those five counties.

THE NATIONAL URBAN-RURAL DIVIDE: According to the Wall Street Journal, the mid-term elections brought to a head a decades-long realignment of the U.S.’s major political parties, with Democrats winning contests in and around major cities while Republicans carried rural and small-town America.

“Just as rural white voters fled the Democratic Party after Mr. Obama took office,” the Journal reported, “educated suburbanites abandoned the GOP after President Trump’s election. Those trends continued Tuesday, and will not only alter the governing coalitions in Washington but also will change how and where candidates engage with the American electorate.”

One of the tests for those now in office in the Nation’s Capitol will be whether they can find strategies and tactics to bridge the urban-rural divide. Or, whether they will even want to do so.

Specifically, it will be interesting to see what role Republican Congressman Greg Walden carves out for himself, now that he will be in the minority in the U.S. House. One of my reliable sources in Bend, which is in Walden’s district, said Walden will survive well because he knows how to work both sides of the political aisle.

CAMPAIGNING VS. GOVERNING: Given the character of campaigns these days – acrimony, harsh words, negative advertising – it is logical to wonder whether those who won can get about the business of governing. With what some have called “the permanent campaign,” it is easy to predict more gridlock.

If there are stills in campaigning, those skills don’t translate well to governing.

In Oregon, Democrats ran the political table in the election, winning the Governor’s Office again and attaining super-majorities in both the House and Senate. That means they will be able to do just what they want to do without paying much attention to the minority Republicans.

Whether the Ds will find a way to work on policy in a bi-partisan fashion remains to be seen. But, in at least one issue – balancing the State of Oregon budget – the Ds and Rs have no option other than to find the smart middle.

The Oregon Constitution requires a balanced budget and, at the Capitol, the budget-making committee, which is called the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, is a joint committee in two ways – joint meaning, (1) that Democrats and Republicans are members, and (2) that members of the House and Senate serve together.

Perhaps there is a lesson there on other issues.

As citizens, not to mention voters, it’s worth keeping our eyes on these and other issues as campaigning turns to governing…at least that is an aspiration.