Being the head of a political party in Washington state can be a thankless task. Many folks just plain don’t like the work you do, finding it a tad unsavory, like running an after-hours joint. People routinely call you a “party boss,” a particularly grating smear because you know just how little clout political parties have in this reform state. Besides, it’s an odd reference, as few of us today recall smoke-filled rooms or powerful political organizations here.

Washingtonians have a long-standing populist distrust of political parties. We dislike partisan primaries. Many of us claim to be Independent. Quite a few even cling to the fiction that nonpartisan elections are somehow superior to partisan races.

So Luke Esser, the new chairman of the state Republican Party, won’t have an easy ride. Esser handily defeated incumbent chairwoman Diane Tebelius in the Jan. 27 election for party leadership. Tebelius, then, becomes one of the very few Republican leaders turned out as a result of the party’s dismal showing last November.

Esser says that party insiders made the change because they recognized that, while last year was a bad year for Republicans everywhere, it was worse here. Rather than “wallowing in the disappointment,” he says, “… the Republican Party has to be the optimistic party.”

The Reagan-esque comment comes naturally for Esser, who got into politics in 1980 and stayed active. Before losing his bid for Senate reelection, Esser had served eight years in the Legislature.

That legislative experience shapes the way he views his job. While he acknowledges that the party needs to improve “the mechanical and tactical things” like recruiting candidates, fundraising and training grassroots volunteers, he wants to focus attention on Olympia. With Democrats firmly in control, Esser sees opportunity in opposition. He wants voters to know “what Republicans are trying to do and what they’re fighting against.”

He rattles off three areas of Democratic vulnerability. With unsustainable plans for big spending, the seeming inability to resolve Seattle’s multi-billion dollar tunnel versus viaduct controversy, and the potential “total abandonment of the WASL (graduation requirement),” he says, “Democrats are giving us plenty to talk about.”

Possibly, but Democrats can point to successes in each of Esser’s targets of opportunity. Democratic Gov. Gary Locke brought to Olympia the priority budget process that Dino Rossi highlighted in his 2004 gubernatorial campaign. Democratic legislators pushed through gas tax hikes that the voters endorsed. The WASL came into being with bipartisan support.

Are Democrats retreating? Can Republicans produce credible alternatives?

The debate will be healthy. Those who turn up their noses at partisan politics miss the larger benefit of effective political parties. What Esser calls the mechanical and tactical responsibilities of party organizations invigorate democracies by fostering competitive races.

“I’m not alarmed about the position of the Republican Party,” he says. “We’ll be back.” And that includes in Spokane, where voters ousted two Republican incumbents. There’s no reason to over-think the election and natter about national nuance. Sometimes campaigns simply come down to candidate quality and effort. And, with the national wind at their backs, Democrats ran a smart and effective operation across this state. Voters rewarded them.

That doesn’t mean the state endorsed a labor-left political agenda. If Democrats think they have a liberal mandate, they play into Republican hands. Swing voters remain centrist conservatives: tightfisted on taxes and spending, socially libertarian, and pale green on environmental issues. Neither party has a lock on their allegiance.

Although Esser says he wants “to restore two-party government in this state,” we’ve generally had it here. The Legislature has often been closely divided, with periodic shifts in partisan control. Elections don’t get closer than the last governor’s race.

When both parties are competitive, political pragmatism helps blunt the more extreme impulses of each party’s base. That’s generally worked well for us. Policies that stick are often the results of bipartisan efforts.

Unchallenged power fosters a dangerous hubris, which is often followed by a decisive reversal of political fortunes. Republicans saw this dramatically last November, as Democrats did in 1994.

Democrats should wish Esser luck. A competitive Republican Party may be the challenge they need to stay centered — and reelected.