Right off the bat let me say that there is no realistic chance that a Dem could win this district. Having said that, if there were ever a year when a Dem could win, this is probably it but we failed to field a credible candidate. OR-02 is all of Oregon east of the cascades and the Rogue Valley in southern Oregon. It is the seventh largest district in the US. We have had some of the worst Representatives ever, the story of Wes Cooley deserves its own diary on another day. Our present Rep. is Greg Walden, Bushite exemplar, he is pretty bright and smooth and would be difficult to beat. But a couple of weeks ago he was quoted in the Baker City Herald saying would you "destroy the economy to save the planet?" Admittedly not Michele Bachmann stuff but an opponent could have made some good hay out of this, instead nothing happened.
Noah Lemas is Walden’s opponent; he filed on the last day possible ran unopposed in the primary and seems to be a sacrificial candidate. He is clearly underfunded and outmatched, I have heard nothing from him, period. As David Frum said recently, no Repub is safe this year, but Greg Walden is not breaking a sweat. His last three opponents were all political newbies from southern Oregon and had greater visibility. Now that could be my misperception since I am located in southern Oregon as well. The fellow that ran in 2002 parlayed that into a successful run for state representative and the woman who ran in 2006 is currently angling for a city council seat. All that is great, but running for Congress should not be the start of one’s political career. I guess you could argue that if all you are is a sacrificial candidate then why not? But it should not be this way, the demographics in this district have changed markedly in the last l0 to 20 years and the change is accelerating. Bend, where Lemas is from, has grown from 20,000 in 1990 to over 75,000 today and is presently the largest urban center, closely followed by Medford in southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley. The urban population in southern Oregon along I-5 from Ashland to Grant’s Pass is close to a 175,000, and is the largest urban area in Oregon outside of the Willamette Valley.
Current registration in OR-02 is 44% Repub and 32% Dem, but recent registrations have been trending heavily Dem as you might imagine. An experienced and well-funded candidate could have given Walden some trouble and maybe even have stolen one for our side. At least they could have made Walden explain how our ‘economy’ is more important than the entire friggin’ planet! I mean there are three state universities in the district which could have served as a good base for pushing the youth vote (and that does not even count the Cascades Campus that Oregon State University has started in Bend). I thought we were going to contest every race and I guess I am little ticked that we did not contest OR-02. The fact that a credible candidate could not be found is very sad (and that is not to denigrate Noah Lemas, who stepped up when no one else did and he deserves a lot of credit for that). No doubt OR-02 would have been a longshot but it was one worth taking.