Prospects no drag on GOP enthusiasm.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

SEASIDE - The Democrats may be in charge of the Legislature, the governorship and every other statewide office.

And yes, they have the run of Congress and two presidential candidatesleading the top Republican in most polls.

And unlike Democrats, the Republicans are having a tough time recruiting candidates and raising money for their campaigns.

But that didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the 400 participants in the Republicans' 44th Dorchester Conference. The conference, which wraps up today, was all about getting the GOP's rank-and-file participants energized for manning phone banks, stuffing envelopes, and even getting into some of the races that still lack Republican candidates.

So it was heavy on can-do optimism. The Republicans' few top officeholders peppered their speeches with cracks against Democrats and vows to fight the good fight for free enterprise and against higher taxes. And when they rolled out some of the GOP hopefuls for the 2008 campaigns, the crowd went wild.

"You'd have thought the Republicans had just taken over the state," Florence Republican Al Pearn said of the enthusiastic audience response.

In fact, the Dorchester Conference was far from a victory lap for Oregon Republicans. The annual event gave the state GOP's biggest names and grass-roots activists a place to rev up for the upcoming election and to air out ideas that might help them regain ground lost to Democrats in recent years.

And if the Dorchester Conference is any indication, then railing against abortion and gay marriage is out.

Extolling the virtues of renewable energy and safetynet services for the vulnerable is in.

And running against tax increases and the Democrats who pursue them will never go out of style.

The Republicans' only U.S. representative from Oregon, Greg Walden, urged fellow party members to "go all in" on sustainability, and focused a large portion of his speech on the importance of bolstering Oregon's public colleges and universities.

Sen. Gordon Smith said it was important that in 2008, Republicans apply their philosophies of limited taxes and privatesector solutions to the problems that all Oregonians and Americans want fixed.

"Republican values and Republican solutions must be relevant today because they solve today's problems better than any of those advanced by our friends on the other side," said Smith, who is being targeted for an electoral defeat this year by the Democratic Party.

Despite the optimistic talk at Dorchester, the Republican Party could be in for rough times as it tries to get out of the funk it's been in since the Democratic sweep of victories in 2006.

Jim Torrey, a former Eugene Mayor and ex-Republican, said the kind of free exchange of ideas that Dorchester built its reputation on is what the GOP badly needs.

"They have to allow candidates in their party to express their honest opinions on the issues and not be tied to an agenda or a party platform," said Torrey, who now is a member of the Independent Party of Oregon.

The biggest stumbling block for Republicans is easy to identify, said political scientist Jim Moore, but so far has been more than the party has been able to overcome.

"They have the same problem they've had since the early 1990s, and that's that their primary electorate keeps selecting candidates that are too far from the right," said Moore, who teaches at Pacific University in Forest Grove.

Even if Dorchester manages to fire up the troops, Republicans will still need to energize those who run for office and pay for their campaigns.

Three statewide offices are wide open, yet the Republicans have found one candidate so far: Rick Dancer, a former Eugene TV newsman with no political experience who entered the secretary of state race a week ago. Party officials say they're confident they'll have candidates for attorney general and treasurer before the filing deadline March 11.

Republicans have virtually no chance of wiping out the Democrats' 18-11 majority in the Senate. And while they're just two seats out of the majority in the 60-member House, they lack the candidates to have a good chance of gaining ground on the Democrats. The GOP spent thousands of dollars last year on robocalls and negative mailers in the districts of nine House Democrats they considered vulnerable in this year's elections. Yet they've fielded only two challengers against the bunch.

When Walden addressed the conference, he acknowledged that the next big election year for Republicans might still be three years away, saying that could be the year the GOP recaptures the governorship and its lost majorities in the state House and - possibly - the Senate.

Moore said it should come as no surprise that what little critical self-examination Republicans undertook in Seaside was offset by the numerous applause lines from speakers - at the expense of the Democrats and on behalf of the Republicans' best hopes for election wins in 2008, including in Smith's race and the presidential contest between Republican John McCain and either Democrat Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

"Dorchester is about cheerleading," he said. "This is about cheerleading for Gordon Smith and making sure people are solid for John McCain."

How the parties line up for this spring's races

The Legislature: Republican candidates filed for 29 of the 60 House races and eight of the 14 Senate races. In all, Republicans are challenging two Democrat-held House seats and one Democrat-held Senate seat. The House and Senate Republican campaigns have raised $189,000 so far for upcoming races.

Statewide races: Republicans last weekend picked up their only candidate so far - former Eugene TV newsman Rick Dancer - who is running for secretary of state. No candidates have surfaced for treasurer or attorney general.

Federal races: Sen. Gordon Smith faces a challenge for what is the West Coast's only Republican-held Senate seat. Republicans could pick up a second of Oregon's five congressional seats; the mid-valley/coast/southeast Portland suburbs 5th district is open with Democratic Rep. Darlene Hooley's retirement.

Legislature: Democratic candidates filed for 45 House and seven Senate races. In all, Democrats are challenging 14 Republican-held House seats and one Republican-held Senate seat. The House and Senate Democratic campaigns have $665,000 so far for upcoming races.

Statewide races: Four Democrats are running for secretary of state, two for attorney general and one for treasurer.

Federal races: Democrats are waging a lively primary for the nomination to oppose Smith in the Senate and have three of their four incumbents in Congress returning against light or no opposition so far from the GOP. The party must fight harder for the swing-voting 5th District, given its incumbent there is retiring.

Bottom line: Republicans lack the candidates to escape minority status in the Legislature and could lose more House seats. They don't have a candidate in any of the eight Lane County districts held by Democrats. They also face long odds of breaking the Democrats' monopoly on statewide offices. The potential bright spots: Smith has several cards to play in fending off the Democratic challenge, and the GOP could pick up a seat in Congress.

- David Steves