Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington isn’t running this year, but her 2000 campaign against three-term incumbent Slade Gorton provides an interesting backdrop for the current race going on between Senator Gordon Smith and a host of Democratic challengers.

Because of counts and recounts, the final tally differs a bit from report to report, but one of the most credible shows Gorton losing to Cantwell by just 1,953 votes.

Seattle, like Portland, is always a magnet for candidates. To paraphrase former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, you can see enough voters from the top of the Space Needle to get elected.

Gorton spent a good deal of time campaigning in Western Washington because he assumed that the more conservative constituency east of the Cascades would be lined up to send him back to the nation’s capital.

Cantwell, meanwhile, made countless trips into what had long been considered Gorton territory including both the Tri-Cities and Spokane. In retrospect, there were a number of Gorton supporters who think that had he not turned his back on the eastern part of the state, a good deal more than those 1,953 voters might have stuck with him. There were 2.5 million voters in Washington that year, so the margin of victory was incredibly slim.

Fast forward to 2008 and the race between Senator Smith and an opponent who will look a lot like either Jeff Merkley or Steve Novick.

That’s when areas like Eastern Oregon, with a much smaller voting population, can begin to make a difference.

We are sincerely hoping that the senator from Pendleton will make sure to keep his home turf on his appearance schedule and in his heart as opportunities for appropriations begin to unfold.

And in the course of the election, the time is right to bring home the bacon.

The Republican leadership in the Senate will have some latitude when it comes to doling out earmarks and with the Oregon seat considered at risk, they should feel inclined to make sure that Senator Smith is provided with a few extra opportunities to keep his Oregon constituency happy. That’s kind of how we’re told the system works no matter which party is in the majority.

Nothing would make our area any happier than the $5,459,000 we need to get the University Center in Hermiston off and running. In an area which is seriously addressing workforce needs and economic development, a university center is a vital component.

In the House, Representative Greg Walden already has just such a request among his earmarks and with a boost and a nod from Senator Smith, the timing might just be right for it to happen.

Along the same line, the Oregon Wheat Growers League have an important request in the hopper regarding the USDA Agricultural Research Station, we need $3.5 million for the Round-Up Grounds, and a little help with the Umatilla Basin Project might also be in order.

This sounds like an awful lot of money and it is, but in a nation which is spending $341 million a day in Iraq, all things are relative.

The time is right, senator, to take care of Eastern Oregon.

Don’t forget us.