PARIS ACHEN/CAPITAL BUREAU - Knute Buehler's campaign bus

On the last day of the gubernatorial race, GOP nominee Knute Buehler held a final rally outside his campaign headquarters in Tualatin before ultimately losing to Democratic incumbent Gov. Kate Brown.

Punctuated with excited fanfare, Buehler entered the event aboard a cobalt blue campaign bus. As he and his wife, Patty, stepped off the bus, organizers blasted through speakers the University of Oregon Ducks anthem, “Coming Home (Oregon)” by Mat Kearney.

“I left my heart in Oregon,” the singer-songwriter’s voice crooned.

But as an alumnus from Oregon State University, Buehler is, in fact, a Beaver. He played baseball for the university. The Beavers and the Ducks have a long-standing civil-war-like rivalry. For the Beavers, the blatant use of the Ducks anthem could seem a betrayal. On the other hand, it could have been representative of a theme of Buehler’s campaign — bring rivals, Democrats and Republicans, together.