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Klamath's Al King glad he's in New York

Wednesday, September 1, 2004

By MATTHEW DALY

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - As he mingled with Republican senators and fellow challengers at a reception aboard the USS Intrepid, Oregon delegate Al King knew he'd made the right call in coming to New York.

King, a Klamath County rancher who is running against Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, has spent the week meeting with party leaders, top fund-raisers and national political operatives, as well as attending nightly sessions at Madison Square Garden.

Jim Feldkamp of Eugene, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio, offered similar logic. He says his time as a delegate will help him raise his profile and make connections.

But two other candidates - considered Oregon's strongest GOP contenders - are nowhere near the Big Apple. Jim Zupancic, who is opposing Democrat Darlene Hooley, and Goli Ameri, who is challenging David Wu, opted to stay home to raise money and campaign.

''This is a very tight and competitive race,'' Ameri said, ''and when you are in a competitive race and you have to raise $13,000 every day, you've got to be somewhere where there are either funds or votes, and at the convention there is neither.''

King, who is making his first bid for elective office, said he had no choice but to be in New York. His badly underfunded campaign needs all the money - and exposure - it can get. He said he has made contact with a number of potential donors and has picked up several pointers from National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee staff.

''We're really enjoying it,'' King, 58, said of himself and his wife Kathy, an alternate delegate.

At the Intrepid reception Sunday night, King met with Sen. George Allen, R-Va., chairman of the Senate campaign committee. Allen was cordial but noncommittal, King said - another indication of his uphill fight against Wyden, the popular senior senator who has amassed more than $4.5 million for his campaign.

King had received just over $11,000 as of June 30.

''We're getting right down to the wire,'' King said Tuesday. He said he hopes to double or triple his campaign coffers while in New York. ''That's the purpose of being here,'' he said.

Ameri, who owns a high-tech consulting firm in Portland, said she considered an offer from party leaders to attend the convention, but decided the cost - in lost campaign time and travel - was too high. ''I am just going to stay here and be around my district and raise money,'' she said in a telephone interview last week.

Zupancic, a Lake Oswego lawyer, had planned to be in New York as an alternate or delegate, but decided a few weeks ago to bypass the trip.

''It's a question of two good choices,'' he said. ''I'd love to be able to participate in a national convention, but there are many commitments back here in the district that require me to stay home.''

Instead of rubbing elbows with Republicans in New York, Zupancic said he will make several campaign appearances and meet with newspaper editorial boards.

''Those kinds of things are of critical importance as we enter the last weeks of the campaign,'' he said.

In some ways, the choices of Ameri and Zupancic to stay home are a matter of economics. Each is in a highly competitive race and has raised far more than other GOP challengers.

Ameri had collected $1.3 million as of June 30, while Zupancic had brought in more than $700,000, according to their latest campaign finance reports. Both say they have increased their totals by at least $200,000 apiece since then.

Their opponents, Wu and Hooley, had amassed $1.6 million and $1.3 million, respectively, as of June 30, campaign finance reports show.

Both candidates are running in swing districts where Republicans hold only a slight edge over Democrats among registered voters.

But neither candidate said they were trying to distance themselves from the administration or the Republican platform by not attending the convention. And both Ameri and Zupancic have expressed repeated enthusiasm for the Bush administration's policies.