As the dust — and cow dung — settles on this latest election, here are a few opining observations:
Republican Brent Boger, loser in the race for County Prosecuting Attorney.
Everyone has to be a little naive to run for any elected position. In other words, you end up looking at the race you’re in differently than how an objective person might see it.
A person … like me.
When I heard Boger — a senior assistant Vancouver city attorney — announced he was running for this office, my first reaction? Huh?
Look, you could run for an office like — let’s say — president, with no real qualifications. We’ve proved that multiple times. But in a position like this, where you have to put a complicated case together against a bad guy, just being an attorney isn’t enough.
It’s sort of like saying you’re a veterinarian, but you could do brain surgery if you had to. Maybe there’s some hospital patient in Olympia up for that, but not here.
Want more naiveté? A few hours before the votes were counted, Boger said on his Facebook page he was feeling good about his chances of winning.
“We are headed for an historic Republican landslide — probably the biggest gains in the House for a party in my lifetime.
“I am cautiously optimistic the landslide will extend down the ticket to the race for Clark County Prosecuting Attorney.
“Past results for County offices have mirrored national trends. Not enough has happened in this race to change that.”
Huh?
Give Clark County voters credit. Although Republican candidates here received much love, they were looking for a brain surgeon for this job.
Democrat Denny Heck, loser in the 3rd Congressional District.
Sure, Heck had a lot going against him — the biggest is being a, well, Democrat. But this was a district held almost exclusively by Democrats, and the winner would be replacing a Democrat. So what went wrong?
When you take the course, Politics 101, the first thing they teach you is how to answer a difficult question … without really answering the question. Heck gets an A+ from me. But I don’t think that’s a good thing.
I like pressing these guys for answers they refuse to give, but Heck was one of the few politicians I couldn’t break down. He simply wouldn’t answer some questions no matter how hard I tried. Thus the A+.
Also, Heck said he wouldn’t move down to Clark County — he lives in Olympia now — if he won the election. However parochial that might sound, strategically this was dumb.
We already have a bit of an inferiority complex — being tucked up next to the big dog Portland. But in the 3rd Congressional District, we’re the big dog! To try and represent us from Olympia would not have worked.
Speaking of the big dog Portland, Heck’s decision to promote his being endorsed by The Oregonian in TV ads was, again, just dumb. Hey, The O has every right to endorse in our race, but for a politician to think that would help him in Clark County, he simply doesn’t understand Clark County. We don’t much like Portland telling us what to do.
Republican Jaime Herrera, winner in the 3rd Congressional District. We were one of the few major dailies to endorse Herrera, and I’m proud of that. Others looked at Heck as the “experienced” guy. So what? Experience isn’t everything. Young, energetic, intelligent, solid stands on important issues, Herrera will rock the House!
Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor. Reach him at 360-735-4505 or lou.brancaccio@columbian.com.
