DO RIGHT:

GOP governor might be just what Oregon wants: Voters have not elected a Republican to the post since 1982. But former NBA star Chris Dudley could be the man to turn around the state's double-digit unemployment, its high rate of homelessness and its poorly performing schools. (Kim Murphy, 10/10/10, Los Angeles Times)

In a state knocked on its hindquarters by the recession, some say it will take a big man to pull Oregon back up on its feet. At 6 feet 11, Republican Chris Dudley would like to be that man.

"It's pretty safe to say I've got a good shot at it," said Dudley, for whom good shots were a rarity in a 16-year NBA career distinguished by one of the worst free-throw shooting percentages in league history.

The degree to which the governor's race is a tossup this late in the campaign says much about how hard-hit the state has been by double-digit unemployment and back-to-back fiscal crises — and how ready voters may be to try something new.

Oregon has not elected a Republican governor since 1982. Democrats hold the state's two U.S. Senate seats and control the state Legislature. Yet in some polls, Dudley has pulled slightly ahead of former Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, who left office in 2003 after eight years and is now, like Jerry Brown in California, trying for a comeback.