The ballots had barely been counted before pundits across the state, even the nation, were reading last rites for the Republican Party. That’s pretty extreme, but cooler heads must admit that the results of the Nov. 4 vote beg for some serious soul-searching if the party is to reclaim its former position of strength.

No doubt about it, the GOP had a dismal time of it last week, starting at the top with Barack Obama’s decisive defeat of John McCain. The trend was mirrored in the state, where the GOP lost Gordon Smith in the U.S. Senate, and the Democrats claimed all the open statewide offices and strengthened their grip on the state House and Senate. If your favorite color is red, it was a disappointing finish.

It might be easy to dismiss this as simply the result of the spectacular economic meltdown. After all, the economy was a powerful player in the election, fueling the voters’ desire for change. However, the anti-Republican wave might have been deflected somewhat if it weren’t for some internal problems – questions of mission, campaign strategy and appeal – that likely contributed to the party’s lackluster finish. With a restive populace focused on change, the GOP was perceived as having an increasingly narrow focus. In turn, that limited its attraction for a host of voters – the unaffiliated, the undecided and even a number of card-carrying moderate Republicans.

The alienation of moderate voters is not a new phenomenon for the party. Recently, former Oregon Secretary of State Norma Paulus, a longtime Republican, recounted how her own family members kept asking her why on earth she remains a Republican. “I intend to continue that affiliation,” she tells them, “until the Republican party I first joined reappears.”

Despite that sense of loyalty, she is not alone among her peers in finding frustration that her party no longer seems to chart the course on key issues: public education, natural resources, health care, the environment, reducing the national debt and more. As our colleague, George Murdock, editor of the East Oregonian and a lifelong Republican, notes: When and how were those issues hijacked by Democrats? Instead, he and other moderate Republicans find themselves on the outside as party leaders preflight every issue through the prism of neoconservatism.

The conservative appeal still works in much of rural Oregon, where Republicans carry the day, but the demographics work against us on state and national levels. Rural residents are too few and far between to have much sway on our own, and the balance of power in Salem today threatens to marginalize our elected Republican representatives.

That’s unfortunate – for Republicans and Democrats alike. Oregon needs two healthy political parties. Legislation is always better if both perspectives are well represented, and governance is better when based on balanced, thoughtful discourse.

This not the first time a political party has had to struggle back from the depths. The pendulum of power swings back and forth, from one extreme to another, every other decade or so. Some 40 years ago, when Oregon Democrats hit a low point, they regrouped in a session called Demoforum. That gathering produced a succession of legislative and civic leaders that restored the party’s strength.

Perhaps it’s time for the GOP to try a similar approach – to re-examine the party’s roots, mission, membership, leadership and potential for success in this vastly different political and economic climate. It could make the difference four years from now. It could make a difference even sooner in the quality of political dialogue and governance of the state.