Oregon Public Broadcasting

Thursday Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele is scheduled to visit Oregon. He's only been on the job a few months, but faces the considerable challenge of uniting a party that suffered crushing defeats in November.

Oregon's state Republican party is also in a rebuilding stage, and as April Baer reports, the party must try to draw in voters, without losing its fundamental identity.

You might say the state's Republican party is trying to find a way to speak to several kinds of Oregon experience.

Chip Bradley lives in Curry County, on the Oregon Coast.

Chip Bradley   "I'm an independent contractor. I'm the first generation in my family in Oregon not to be in the timber industry. I can remember what it was like to be fairly well off as a child, and then become really poor."

Bradley had been keeping a public blog on Townhall.com, a conservative website, and says, where he lives, the Republican party is alive and well.

Of course he's dismayed about seeing Republicans so far out of the loop in Salem and Washington D.C. Bradley describes himself as a conservative, and while he respects moderates, he's noticed an awful lot of advice directed toward the Republican rebuild lately.

Chip Bradley "I think one thing we do need to be a little leery about is a Democrat's telling us how the party should be rebuilt."

He prefers less compromise on business and trade issues. He's certainly not a fan of policies that would raise taxes, and wants the party to embrace self-reliance whenever possible.

But Bradley's isn't the only kind of Oregon experience. Stephen Babson was born here, too.

Stephen Babson "I think that Oregonians want to have a two-party state."

Babson is a quiet man who moves in some of the highest circles in Oregon. For several years he was chair of Stoel Rives, the state's largest law firm. Now he's a principal at Endeavor Capital Fund, and sits on the board of Columbia Sportswear.

He's not the kind to bring this up in casual conversation, but he's the nephew of Oregon's legendary Republican Governor Tom McCall, and shares some of McCall's ideas about sometimes working with Democrats.

Stephen Babson  "If you look at the history of the parties in this state it is not highly partisan. It is progressive, and community minded. There are philosophical differences, I think that the Republican party has an important tradition in the state of Oregon, and it has been more times than not the party of progress, of new ideas, of creative approaches to problems, with a focus less on government solutions than on private initiative."

The Oregon Babson knows is a Western state that's first to embrace some of the best and most progressive concepts, without getting embarrassed about it.

The problem, for the Oregon Republican Party, is that while both Babson and Bradley are proud party members,there is almost no money right now to draw them into organizing activities.

Party chair Bob Tiernan's job is to whip the organization into a shape that can accommodate both the Babsons and Bradleys of the world, and maybe others, too.

Tiernan gave an early indication of his strategy when he hitched his wagon to Michael Steele's star, even though Steele wasn't well know. 

In January, Tiernan's support helped Steele win his position with the GOP. Now party members hope Steele's in a position to reward that support.

But there is more to the job than reforging ties to the national party.

Doug Badger "Each one of these elections have unique dynamics that are unique to the state."

Doug Badger is Managing Partner of Quinn Thomas Public Affairs and a campaign strategist who ran the Oregon arm of George W. Bush's re-election campaign in 2004.

Badger says the state party can certainly use Steele's help with fund-raising, ground game, and databases for managing voter information. But there's one area Badger thinks the Republican National Committee  can't fix: the work of recruiting relevant, home-grown candidates.

Doug Badger: "Most of the time, Oregon being what it is, we value our independence, we value our unique view on lifestyle and life, and in the long run, it would serve them to carve that identity out for themselves."

Gregg Mindt is enjoying his morning coffee out on the shore of Lake Oswego. A consultant and father of two who owns his own business, he's a registered Republican who's been watching the party retool from the sidelines.

He thinks the basis of good politics is moving beyond stereotypes.

Gregg Mindt   "People outside the city think everybody's living on the Lake and well to do, but it's really not, there's a pretty good mix of individuals and backgrounds."

And as any Republican can tell you, making assumptions in Clackamas County can be dangerous. For example, a few years ago, Republicans might have assumed this place was safe territory, where they'd racked up presidential wins.

But thanks to demographic changes, and a surge in Democratic voter registration, Barack Obama won here in November by almost 20,000 votes.

Mindt says it was a little hard to watch the Obama campaign execute a winning strategy, but that he had to admit he admired in the last election. While he doesn't want to give advice to the party, he has ideas about the right place to start drafting candidates.

Gregg Mindt   "What I don't see enough of in candidates is a good business background. I'd like to see more small business owners run for office."

Mindt says he knows some of his neighbors might be persuaded to vote Republican again. But not for just any Republican.