For as long as political memory can reach back in Oklahoma, the state’s Democrats have attempted to position themselves as like the Oklahoma Republicans, only a little bit more reasonable. The Mission Statement of the Oklahoma Democratic Party spends as much time criticizing progressives as it does attacking Republicans. “Unlike the far left, we know that less government is sometimes a better government, and that government cannot solve every difficulty faced by our society,” the statement says, “and we are determined to see Oklahoma’s traditional values upheld.”

U.S. Representative Dan Boren, Oklahoma’s only Democrat in Congress, reflects this center-right political strategy. His legislative scorecard shows him leaning solidly toward right wing ideology, with a score of -27 (a score of 100 would be perfectly progressive, while a score of -100 would be perfectly regressive).

How has this strategy of copying the Republicans’ right wing politics worked for the Oklahoma Democrats? Not well. The playing field for the 2010 congressional election, less than one year away now, shows that the Oklahoma Democrats are on the defensive. The Oklahoma Democrats still haven’t been able to muster a challenger to any of the Republican incumbents in the House or Senate. Dan Boren, the single Democratic incumbent in Congress, has three Republican challengers. Boren’s right wing politics have failed to protect him from Republican attacks. On the contrary, they seem to have made him more vulnerable than ever – conceding to the Republican agenda from the start.

Oklahoma Democrats haven’t even been able to find a candidate for next year’s open seat in the House of Representatives. That seat is being vacated by Mary Fallin, one of the most extreme right wing members of Congress. Fallin is running for Governor of Oklahoma, but instead of finding a solid progressive Democratic candidate for Fallin’s House seat, all the Oklahoma Democrats have been able to do is to create a site mocking Mary Fallin, called MaryFailing.com.

The content of MaryFailing.com? Well, there isn’t any. The Oklahoma Democrats say that they have left the space “intentionally blank”, unable to come up with any substance to their opposition.