There weren't a tremendous number of surprises in Oregon's Primary election yesterday, but there was one very unpleasant one: the low turnout among Republican voters. It's frankly pretty hard to understand - given the level of concern over federal and state policies that are driving the nation and Oregon into bankruptcy - how only 49 percent of Republicans could bother to show up to vote.

Oregon's election featured nine candidates for Governor on the Republican side and, despite the fact that not all were electable and a couple were complete loons, one would think there would be something for every voter in there somewhere. In addition, two key races to choose challengers to Oregon Congressmen David Wu and Kurt Schrader were contested. There was even a contested Republican Primary for US Senate to choose a challenger to Ron Wyden who's been in Congress for three decades.

None of these races were enough to draw even a simple majority of Republicans off their couches and out to their mailboxes. A huge opportunity to elect a conservative Superintendent of Public Instruction was lost, dooming Oregon's trapped public school children to four more years of Castillo-incompetence.

What happened here? It would fascinating to know what caused these hundreds of thousands of voters to choose saving a stamp over saving the state and nation.

My view is that this result calls into question how real, deep and wide-spread the Tea Party movement (or whatever label you'd like to give to the recent uprisings against government spending and debt) is, and whether it will ultimately have an impact.

If Chris Dudley is elected Oregon's first Republican Governor in a quarter century this November, he is going to need back-up to stand up to the government employees unions. Yesterday's low turnout makes one wonder if conservatives can match the inevitable busloads of schoolchildren, the handicapped and senior citizens crying for more government spending, with busloads of Oregonians demanding that government be dramatically reduced and taxes cut.

With this state and nation in crisis, there's no excuse for Republican voters to have stayed home yesterday. The ones who did should be ashamed.