Former state treasurer candidate Allen Alley (R-Lake Oswego) did not rule out a run for governor in 2010 in an interview with PolitickerOR.com shortly after the election.

Alley may have narrowly missed becoming the state’s executive financial officer, but he told PolitickerOR.com that he could see himself running for office again, either to replace Gov. Ted Kulongoski, or to take on a different position.

“I don’t know for what, but I would,” Alley said regarding if he would consider taking on another campaign. “I completely enjoyed the process; there is nothing that I didn’t enjoy about it.”

In a letter Alley wrote to his supporters on Tuesday, he talked of the successes of the campaign to bridge partisan and geographical divides and succeed in the Democratic-stronghold of Oregon’s most populous county, Multnomah County.

“We went from zero political visibility in March to a very viable state-wide candidacy by November,” Alley wrote. “We focused our resources on Portland's Multnomah County, knowing the path to any state-wide office leads through Multnomah County and we began blazing our trail in this election.  In fact, we researched prior election results and found we earned more votes in Multnomah County than any Republican candidate has in any election.”

Oregon Republicans can take heart in knowing that Alley and Secretary of State candidate Rick Dancer were two political newcomers that burst onto the scene in 2008 and gave their opponents, Democratic political veterans Ben Westlund and Kate Brown, a much tougher race than either candidate had bargained for. Dancer received 46 percent of the vote compared to Brown’s 51 percent, and Alley received 45 percent of the vote to Westlund’s 51 percent.

It was a strong first race for Alley, considering the former Pixelworks CEO was also a late-comer to the race, filing for candidate in March while Westlund filed in November, Alley was able to give the veteran State Senator and former gubernatorial candidate a run for his money. If Alley chose to take a run at the governor’s office, he could find himself landing in a familiar place. Alley served as Kulongoski’s Deputy Chief of Staff for almost two years before resigning to run for state treasurer.

Alley said that next time around, with proper funding and a proper way to get out his message, he felt he could do better.

“We didn’t really have time to get our message out,” Alley said, noting the nuances of explaining the state treasurer’s position to voters. “But we learned that with the appropriate level of resources and funds, we can reach out to people.”