Voters weren't energized.

Byline: The Register-Guard

In an editorial board interview before Tuesday's primary election, Jim Hill was asked whether he thought Oregon would be better off if Republican Kevin Mannix had been elected governor four years ago. Hill, a Democrat, had to think for a while before saying "no."

Hill's reticence encapsulated the mood in both major parties. Gov. Ted Kulongoski won the Democratic primary with 54 percent of the vote, the lowest percentage in memory for an incumbent governor seeking his party's nomination. Ron Saxton won the Republican primary with 43 percent, far short of a majority, surviving an onslaught of negative campaigning by Mannix, the second-place finisher.

These tepid showings came in a low-turnout election - 36 percent in Lane County. Statewide turnout may prove to be the lowest ever for a primary election in Oregon.

Voters simply weren't energized by their choices. Hill, a former treasurer, and Lane County Commissioner Peter Sorenson sensed the lack of enthusiasm for Kulongoski. Both challengers fell short, but not before peeling away constituencies that helped elect Kulongoski in 2002 - notably, public employees' uni- ons.

Former legislator and state Republican chairman Mannix, making his fourth run for statewide office, was judged a spent force, receiving only 30 percent of the vote. On his way to defeat, however, Mannix and his supporters smeared former Portland School Board Chairman Saxton as a flip-flopping pal of former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt. Saxton will have to clean some mud from his shoes before he can turn his attention to running against Kulongoski.

Both Saxton and Kulongoski will have to consolidate their bases of support while reaching beyond them. Saxton moved rightward to gain the GOP nomination, and now must soften his message without alienating voters who supported the other Republican candidates. Kulongoski will need to repair his relations with labor without becoming anyone's captive.

A Kulongoski-Saxton race could be more elevating than Tuesday's preliminaries. Kulongoski has a brisk economic wind in his sails which, he will plausibly argue, would allow him to steer a bolder course during a second term. Saxton will attempt to persuade Oregonians that after a string of four Democratic governors stretching back 20 years, it's time for new thinking in Salem. The general election campaign could provide what the primary did not - a discussion of Oregon's future, not just its past, and of the state's promise as well as its problems.

The two nominees can expect to contend with state Sen. Ben West- lund of Bend, a former Republican running as an independent. Tuesday's results, and the sour-tasting campaign that produced them, are undoubtedly encouraging to West- lund. Voters are waiting for someone to engage their imaginations - if a candidate can do that, the party label won't matter.

The only other statewide race will be a runoff for a position on the Oregon Supreme Court. Jack Roberts, a former labor commissioner and candidate for governor, won a plurality Tuesday. He was the only candidate with statewide name familiarity, he had strong financial backing from advocates of limits on civil lawsuits, and he was the only choice for conservative voters who chose to see the race through a liberal vs. conservative lens.

Virginia Linder, an appeals court judge, spent far less to finish in second place, but may pick up the support of trial lawyers who backed the third candidate, Pendleton attorney Gene Hallman, in the primary. It's sure to be a hard-fought contest that will set a spending record for Oregon judicial races.