Oregon: The Low-Key Campaigner

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Oregon's Republican Governor Mark Hatfield, 40, left Salem at 6 a.m., drove to Portland for a quick speech to railway workers. Then he was off for a 351-mile drive to Baker (pop. 9,986), in sparsely settled, heavily Democratic eastern Oregon, for a typical round of small-town campaigning—an inspirational speech on civic virtue to the local high school assembly, a handshaking tour of an industrial plant (''Hatfield's the name, nice to see you again"), a visit with the editor of the local weekly, a talk to the Powder River Sportsmen's Club. It was all very low-key — but then, even in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by some 75,000, Hatfield can afford to be low-key. Up for re-election this year, he is about as good a bet to win as exists in any two-party state in the nation.

Boosting the Economy. A darkly hand some man, Hatfield won national head lines in 1958 — a Democratic year — with an upset victory over Incumbent Democrat Robert D. Holmes. Since then he has carefully husbanded his popularity, avoided controversy, concentrated instead in souping up the state's economy. In the last two years, 100 new industries employing 10,000 workers have come into Oregon; in just two months this summer, $550 million worth of new commercial construction got under way. Hatfield is also a guiding force behind a $10 million private effort to bring research organizations into the state.

Meanwhile, Hatfield has enlisted some labor support by opposing right-to-work legislation and a move to transfer the state insurance compensation program to private operation. As a result, the state A.F.L.-C.I.O. executive committee voted to endorse him this year; though the normally pro-Democratic A.F.L.-C.I.O. state convention decided to make no endorsement. Hatfield regards the standoff as a "moral victory."

Inevitably, not everything has come up aces for Hatfield. The Democratic-controlled state legislature turned down as a "power grab" his proposal to reform Oregon's unwieldy state constitution by increasing the Governor's powers. And he has admittedly failed to breathe new life into a moribund Republican Party organization. "I haven't been able to please the old pros, and I've just about given up trying," he says. 'T do not control the party, nor do I have any desire to."

Prospect for No. 2. Opposing him this fall is Democratic Attorney General Robert Y. Thornton, 52, an energetic campaigner who has taunted Hatfield with trying to please everybody. The charge is accurate enough; Thornton's problem is that Hatfield has to a remarkable extent succeeded. Two years ago, before New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller's presidential candidacy became a dead letter, there was talk of a Rockefeller-Hatfield national ticket. If Hatfield is solidly re-elected this year, and if Rockefeller or another Eastern Republican heads the G.O.P. ticket in 1964 Hatfield might well be a top prospect for the No. 2 spot.