COOS BAY, ORE - Fighting to get Oregon to rebound is the goal of Republican candidate for Governor Chris Dudley, and he brought his message to the South Coast this week.

Still in the early stages of a two month campaign tour around the state, Dudley paid a visit to Kaffe 101 in downtown Coos Bay on Tuesday, February 16th.

He says people outside of Portland and the I-5 corridor feel disconnected and that is something he wants to address.

So, as part of his "Renew Oregon" tour, he is making stops in all 36 counties to hear about the issues that are important to each community, while also driving home his message that change is needed.

"We're among the national leaders in hunger, homelessness, and our schools, just last week, got rated 43 in the nation. We're 47th in job creation, our funding for higher education is 48th. Go down the list, it's not pretty."

Dudley says the problem is not, as some may claim, with a tax deficit, but rather it is due to a jobs deficit and a leadership deficit. "The answers coming out of Salem have been the same, more taxes, more spending, more government, more regulation, and we have not gotten anywhere. We've had so much time for partisan fighting, but not enough time for working together to come up with real solutions to get us going down the right path."

The 6'11'' Yale graduate played in the NBA for 16 years, including two stops with the Portland Trail Blazers, and he agrees that, right now, he is probably better known as a basketball player and not a politician.

He adds quickly though, that in the current political climate that is actually a positive these days.