Oregon gubernatorial race too close to call

PORTLAND – Democrat John Kitzhaber and Republican Chris Dudley are locked in a tight race for governor in Oregon after a big-spending campaign that pitted a political veteran against a former professional basketball player.

The two were within two percentage points of each other with about 70 percent of precincts reporting.

The former two-term governor Kitzhaber and the political rookie Dudley have spent at least $15 million this year. Results may not be known until late Tuesday night – or later.

Pacific University political science professor Jim Moore said a sluggish turnout by independents hurt Dudley, because those independents tend to vote Republican. This year’s governor’s race is one of the closest in recent history, Moore said, and could mirror other state and national elections in which Democrats eked out victories by narrow margins.

“The common thread it shows is that Oregon is an evenly divided state in terms of party identification,” Moore said. “The rest of the nation looks at Oregon and says it’s blue, blue and bluer, but it’s actually pretty equally divided.”

Democrats hold a 200,000 voter-registration advantage over Republicans in the state, but independent voters make up about 20 percent of the electorate.

“A big number of unaffiliated voters are sitting this one out, and that hurts Dudley,” Moore said.

Democrat Ron Wyden held on to his Senate seat to take a third full term in office, easily fending off a challenge from a Republican candidate who had largely financed his own campaign.

Wyden was a rarity among U.S. Senate Democrats: He never faced much of a challenge and coasted to a victory.

Republican Jim Huffman, a law professor, ran a campaign largely financed by personal loans and questioned climate-change data. Before his campaign, he defended bonuses for Wall Street executives, which Wyden’s campaign used against him in a state struggling through economic problems.

1st Congressional District: Democratic Rep. David Wu won a surprisingly easy victory over Republican Rob Cornilles in a race that was expected to be tight.

Wu was persistently painted as the most vulnerable incumbent among Oregon’s U.S. House candidates, but succeeded in the Democratic-leaning district and was elected to a seventh term.

2nd District: Republican Rep. Greg Walden defeated political newcomer Joyce Segers to win a seventh term in the state’s 2nd District that’s been held by a Republican for 30 years.

3rd District: Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer secured an eighth term in the geographically small but heavily populated 3rd District that has been in the hands of Democrats for 55 years.

4th District: Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio withstood a challenge from a political novice Tuesday to win his 13th term in a race that was tighter than he expected.

Republican Art Robinson had labeled DeFazio a socialist in the 4th District race.

DeFazio protested the influx of independent spending on Robinson’s behalf from a New York hedge fund executive whom DeFazio said opposes his attempts to institute reforms on Wall Street.

5th District: Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader fended off a tough challenge from Republican Scott Bruun to keep Oregon’s 5th District seat in the U.S. House.

Schrader went to great lengths to portray himself as an independent in Washington while defending his seat in Oregon’s only true swing district.

Bruun proved to be a fierce fundraiser late in the campaign, but couldn’t overcome Schrader’s recognition among voters in both the U.S. House and Oregon Legislature.

Schrader, a centrist Oregon Democrat, was elected in the sweeping 2008 Democratic victories nationwide. In this race, he had to distance himself from the party’s establishment while still defending his votes with their largest proposals — the stimulus and health care reform.