At El Ranchito: Concession speeches and salsa.
  • Portland Citysearch
  • At El Ranchito: Concession speeches and salsa.
Faced with the mathematical certainty of a slender defeat—but likely not slender enough to trigger a recount—Republican Chris Dudley has pulled the plug on his oh-so-close bid to serve as Oregon's next governor.

The Oregonian's Harry Esteve caught up with Duds in his hometown of Lake Oswego. Outside the El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant (Here's the Yelp review).

Dudley wished John Kitzhaber well and said he hoped he got the message Oregonians were trying to tell him. Namely that a lot of them were so disenchanted with the prospect of a Kitzhaber third term that they almost voted for an Ivy-schooled backup center who's never served in government before. Although Dudley put it differently. Something about setting aside our differences.

But Duds, it seems, wasn't up for much of a postmortem. "We haven't had time to let the dust settle," he said. He also wouldn't say whether he'd try again after a bruising campaign. "Right now I'm just going inside to have a margarita."

Good choice! According to Yelp reviewer Andrew M.: "The large margarita is about the size of your head."