GOP Making Bold Play for US Senate Seat in Oregon
The GOP is making a bold play for a U.S. Senate seat in reliably Democratic Oregon, where a Republican hasn't been elected to a statewide office in more than a decade.
Republicans back in Washington think they've found the right candidate in Monica Wehby, a children's brain surgeon who's raised more than $1 million and put her early opposition to President Barack Obama's health care law at the center of her campaign.
The race is shaping up to be a strong test of the GOP strategy of relentlessly using the health law against Democrats in hopes of regaining control of the Senate.
The rollout of the law in Oregon has been worse than in most other states, and Republicans are hoping a doctor has the credibility to capitalize on the resulting voter discontent.
"Doctors are trained differently," Wehby said in a recent candidate forum at a Republican women's club in Lake Oswego, a well-to-do Portland suburb. "We know how to look at things logically, not ideologically, and we also know how to work with other people."
Ballots go out April 30 in the state's all-mail primary and must be returned by May 20, when they will be counted and results announced.
Wehby faces four other Republicans, most notably state Rep. Jason Conger of Bend, a lawyer who's promoting his conservative credentials and his experience representing a district that, like the state as a whole, favors Democrats.
The Republican nominee will face long odds against the incumbent, Democrat Jeff Merkley, who's in his first term. Merkley used Obama's coattails to slip past GOP Sen. Gordon Smith in 2008.
Eight months before the November general election, Merkley rates as the favorite, based on the Democrats' 8-point edge in voter registration and the GOP's longstanding weakness in statewide elections. He also has $3.6 million in the bank for his campaign.
If Republicans can put the seat into play, it would boost their efforts to reclaim the Senate. They need a net gain of six seats to hold a majority.
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GOP Making Bold Play for US Senate Seat in Oregon