At GOP's Dorchester, Allen Alley bests Chris Dudley in straw poll
Kari Chisholm
Over the weekend, Oregon Republicans gathered at the annual Dorchester Conference. In a stunner, Allen Alley crushed Chris Dudley in the conference's straw poll. As the O's Jeff Mapes reports, the vote was 225 to 165 (with 47 for John Lim, and just 1 for Bill Sizemore):
Alley's victory could well have been built on his strong performance in the Friday night debate featuring three of the four candidates (Sizemore was not invited). Several Republicans at the conference said he was clearly the most polished of the candidates.
At the Ridenbaugh Press, Randy Stapilus summarized the debate:
Dudley got the loud response – a snap response for him personally. He had a visual advantage, physically towering over the other two. (In his opening statement he added to it by standing in front of the podiums, poised there tieless and coatless in white shirt, the image of Jimmy Stewart. It was a strong image.His discussion was less compelling, thin on content, and absent much by way of the applause lines candidates need. He noted that he had just posted a jobs platform on his web site, but he presented little content. His most reliable line was, “I’m coming in from the outside.”
Alley had a clearly organized support base in the audience, and got some cheers. He also had more substance in his answers, and remarked that “I’ve been putting together management teams, identifying markets.” He displayed plenty of energy, but somehow not a commanding presence – there’s a quality in his voice that didn’t connect. He sounded more like a manager than a leader: He described himself at one point, “I’m a managment-by-walking-around kind of guy.”
And his references to meeting with the opposition, seeking some compromises and in effect triangulating, didn’t seem to impress the Republicans. “You have to be willing to go anywhere at any time time to defend your positions . . . We have to win the independents. We have to win some moderate Democrats.” Strategically sound, and he got some applause for it. But it seemed half-hearted.
They did like his shouted closing statement, though: “I am sick and tired of them saying government can’t be run like a business.” (He seemed at times torn between delivering the red meat and reaching across the aisle – an ungainly mix.)
Lim actually had some of the best laugh lines, and argued repeatedly that he had after all gotten elected to the legislature repeatedly from Multnomah County – and “Don’t forget that.” But he isn’t an orator (if you’re not focusing his words can be hard to follow), and he seemed to have the least base of support in the crowd.
There's more from an anonymous blogger at Oregon Catalyst and in a separate story from Jeff Mapes in the O.
Discuss.
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3:12 p.m.
Mar 7, '10
Allen shows the benefit of running before and running a lot longer for this job. Dudley shows that he is truly an amateur at this point with only a few weeks experience. I expect him to improve sharply by the end of the campaign, but by then it is likely to be too late. John Lim is John Lim and is not going to change.
Both Dudley and Allen suffer from the fact that they have to appeal to the Tea bagger element that is the core of today's Republican party. As they do it they become unelectable in a general election in Oregon. I don't believe that Scott Brown could have won in a regular election in Massachusetts with a long campaign and high turnout. That is what we will be seeing here in Oregon.
Mar 7, '10
First off, given his business track record, I'm not sure Alley is the guy to talking about running government like a business.
Second, I agree with him--we should run government like a business and not force it to refund money when it takes in more than projected.
Third, does he really believe that government should be run like a business, with an ultimate goal of making the maximum amount of profit? I doubt it.
Mar 7, '10
OMG, are you serious Dorchester GOP??
Surely you're not talking about the same Allen "don't call me Carbon-Credit, CO2-neutral" Alley that talks out of both sides of his moderate mouth - are you? >http://www.scribd.com/doc/26494738/Allen-Hamoud-Alley-DOB-54
If so, it's clear that Oregon's GOP is headed for another train wreck this year, UNLESS the independent thinking Republicans regain control of the party - before the primary - from the leadership that destroyed it.
The fact that Bill Sizemore (a) is registered as a Republican candidate for Governor, (b) attended Dorchester, and (c) was excluded from the candidate debate was a clear enough indication that he's posing a serious threat to be the leading GOP candidate in early May.
Seriously. Why else would the Multnomah media all but destroy Mr. Sizemore's chances by dissuading their audiences from choosing the BEST, instead of relying on newspaper and straw polls to be told to "choose" the collective Least-Worst?
>http://www.billsizemore.com/philosophy.htm - Ya can't keep a good man down, which is exactly what Portland's media moguls are trying to do.
Don't ya get it? This primary election will NOT be about the media manipulating the party's vote this time, but it will be ours to lose, as independent thinking Republicans. Too much is at stake this year, so we had better get it right.
Mar 7, '10
Both Dudley and Allen suffer from the fact that they have to appeal to the Tea bagger element that is the core of today's Republican party.
For what it's worth, Esquire magazine has a pretty interesting article/poll about defining what a conservative is today. Based on that article, the teabaggers are not nearly as pervasive as you might think. They are just the loudest.
Mar 7, '10
"Sizemore..."
If the Oregon GOP ever wants to win a statewide election again, they're gonna have to find moderate candidates in order to grow their 34% share of registered voters into a plurality.
Mar 7, '10
It sounds like the Dorchester crowd has figured out:
1) Dudley has nothing
2) Sizemore is poison
Mar 7, '10
Sizemore will Veto any Tax Increase,
Come on, Sizemore is irrelevent. Imagining he is some sort of threat is silly.
Allen Alley, regardless of what ever task he was assigned on the Governor's staff is opposed to any Cap & Trade/Carbon Tax policies and thorouhgly rejects AGW.
He'll be the polar opposite of Bill Bradbury and oppose the AGW movement being perpetrated by Democrats.
That should be clear enough for even BlueOregon to grasp.
So I urge you to champion your AGW movement and highlight for voters Bill Bradbury's leadership role in AGW advocacy.
Mar 7, '10
Richard,
Don't be shy for Alley. This from the linked Mave's article: "At one point, for example, he told how former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was surprised to learn that Oregon, perched on the Pacific Rim and blessed with the Columbia River and abundant forests, was struggling economically.
Alley said Bush asked him: "'How did you screw it up?'"
"Why don't we just sell the assets?" Alley added sarcastically. "What would Ohio do with our ports. What would Michigan do with our water? What would Indiana do with our trees? They'd find economic opportunities for their citizens."
Oregonian's aren't going to want to hear about Alley and his ideas on carbon credits. They're going to want to hear about his plans to sell off Oregon's assets. I'm sure he'll get a ton of support when he champions the economic opportunities of privatizing our public, I mean "government", beaches. Yeah, his polling will surge on that one.
Mar 7, '10
Richard - Did ya click on the provided Alley link? If ya wanna know where a politician stands, don't listen to his words - follow his trail of donations wherein his passionate agendas are revealed.
Mar 8, '10
john calhoun is an idiot, and cannot change. why don't you shove some tea bags where the sun don't shine, clown? Your "tea bagger" comment shows you to be an ignorant tool who probably knows the meaning of such an insulting comment intimately.
Mar 8, '10
I thought Allen Alley was the name of the bowling game at Chuck E. Cheeses where a robotic voice with a western twang greets you saying, "Welcome to Allen's Alley partna, have a great time throwing balls down my hole!"
Either that or the name of a casino slot machine.
Mar 8, '10
So I urge you to champion your AGW movement and highlight for voters Bill Bradbury's leadership role in AGW advocacy.
Keep it up. You're strongly influencing favorable glances towards Brad, when a lot of liberals were ready to give into Kitz!
Mar 8, '10
Dorchester is a seriously fun event and I'm sorry I had to miss it this year. However, there is one note of humor in the straw poll:
Sizemore was there and he got one vote. Hmm, I wonder who that was?
Mar 9, '10
Ryan Leo:
I thought Allen Alley was the name of the bowling game at Chuck E. Cheeses where a robotic voice with a western twang greets you saying, "Welcome to Allen's Alley partna, have a great time throwing balls down my hole!"
Bob T:
The real Allen's Alley was part of the old Fred Allen radio show.
Bob Tiernan Portland
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