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A year ago, Eileen Brady officially announced she was running for mayor. She got into the race against Charlie Hales – an experienced campaigner who had won three city-wide races – and presumably Mayor Sam Adams.
It was a bold move, a risky move, a move that showed guts and conviction. Eileen believed she could bring something different to City Hall, something to help this city we call home thrive.
And for the next year, Eileen chased that dream. She threw her heart into the race, and worked countless hours to meet Portlanders and listen to them. She managed to bring in more money than anyone ever had for a Portland mayoral race. She raised the issues she was most passionate about – jobs, most notably, but also education and equal rights. She wanted to break through the false environment-versus-economy dichotomy some believe in.
Of course, running for office – especially one of the most high-profile, important offices in the state – is a hugely difficult task. I have no end of praise for anyone willing to do it.
The mayoral candidates have been under a constant spotlight, had to come up to speed on a diversity of issues, filled out dozens of questionnaires, and attended what most believe to be a record number of joint appearances. They’ve been on television, on the radio, in newspaper endorsement interviews, and on the street. They’ve had long profiles of them published, digging into long-past details including their parking tickets. They’ve been asked to perform talents at Candidates Gone Wild. And meanwhile, they’ve had to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars and talk to tens of thousands of voters.
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The Hill reports that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who lost a primary race to Rep. Marcy Kaptur after redistricting combined their previously separate districts, has decided against running for a seat in Washington state (or anywhere else). This was a matter of discussion on BlueOregon last year, when the speculation briefly involved Oregon's first district too, after David Wu resigned.
H/t to Steve Weiss.
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By Adam Smith of Portland, Oregon. Adam's writing on drug policy has appeared in dozens of publications. He is currently one of the directors of Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement.
Dwight Holton’s campaign for Oregon Attorney General
featured a powerful political team, outstanding family and national
connections, and the support of the bulk of Oregon’s progressive political
machine. But a late
poll that showed undecided Democrats breaking against him en masse
shocked everybody. They should have seen it coming.
Over the past month, Oregon’s progressive establishment
watched, first bemused and then bewildered, as activists, led by Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement,
turned the AG’s race into a referendum on marijuana policy. When the push
began, Holton dismissed it. But ultimately even Holton’s campaign had to admit
that it had become the campaign’s defining issue.
Last year, Holton joined a
number of US Attorneys around the country who used their discretion, and
our tax dollars, to go after people operating under state medical marijuana
laws. Limited resources dictate that any case pursued by a US Attorney is
inevitably a decision NOT to pursue some other violation of federal law. As
the first of those US Attorneys to run for elective office, Holton discovered
just how little Democratic voters thought of that decision.
Then, when Rosenblum called marijuana enforcement “a low
priority” Holton doubled
down on prohibition.
Dwight Holton lost in a landslide because when the question
was put to Democrats, they simply could not identify with someone who still believes
that marijuana prohibition is a smart priority for law enforcement. In fact,
nearly 70 percent of Oregon Dems believe marijuana should be legal, as do the
large majority of Democrats nationally, and, according
to Gallup, a majority of Americans overall.
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Beth Heckert is the county's first female district attorney. She defeated Rob Patridge, a three term state representative who served as majority whip for the GOP in the Legislature and served on the Medford City Council. Patridge, currently serving as district director for U.S Rep Greg Walden came in far behind Heckert who had a commanding lead in the race with 55% at 10:15 pm last night.
Patridge was endorsed by Walden, numerous current legislators, Medford City Council members, Jackson County commissioners and Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters and the Medford Mail Tribune editorial staff.
In this election, a career politician with little prosecutorial experience was soundly defeated. Beth Heckert's extensive trial court and administrative experience as Chief Deputy District Attorney won the day. In a column a few months back I wrote that Patridge was an opportunistic candidate seeking another "job hop" to return to Salem. For now, it seems Patridge will continue to serve as Walden's distict director.
Kudos to the Heckert campaign team for running a great campaign!
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There will be plenty of time for analysis and recriminations, both deserved and undeserved. For now, some of my initial reactions:
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The election result that will likely have the biggest impact long-term is Jeff Reardon crushing Rep. Mike Schaufler. Notice is served: Democrats who actively work to undermine the will of Democratic voters won't survive when credible challengers are offered in a primary. It helped that Schaufler has personal challenges - misuse of campaign funds, allegations of sexual assault - but the campaign against him was largely about policy.
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Well, it's Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith in the runoff for Portland Mayor. I was, as you know, supporting Eileen Brady. Her campaign was an effective one, but the onslaught from the media was unrelenting. Personally, my biggest disappointment was the non-coverage of Randy Leonard's statement that Charlie Hales was a "showboater" who claimed credit for work that Randy did. In any other town, in any other race, a sitting city commissioner blasting a candidate for mayor in that way would have actually been news - probably front page. At the Oregonian? Nothing. (And let's not even talk about the minimalist coverage given to Hales busted lying in a TV ad.) If you're supporting Jefferson Smith, get ready. The media will be turning its not-exactly-unbiased attention to him next.
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Wow. Those SurveyUSA poll numbers in the Attorney General race were spot on. Congrats to Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon's next Attorney General - and our first woman in the job! Her win is a marked shift from 2008, when the politically-connected but totally-unknown prosecutor defeated the candidate with political experience and Oregon roots. There were race-specific factors, but it seems to me that Oregon Democrats may be less interested in a prosecutor-type for the top post at the Department of Justice.
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There's a shocker in Clackamas County. A full three-quarters of political insiders thought Dave Hunt would make the runoff for the Chair race, and 11% thought he'd win it outright. Instead, he placed fourth - though admittedly in the closest four-way race I've ever seen: Ludlow 28%, Lehan 27%, Savas 24%, Hunt 20%.
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Amanda Fritz vs. Mary Nolan was too-close-to-call heading into election day, and it's going to stay that way. Just a couple hundred votes separate them heading into the general election. This has to be bad news for Amanda Fritz, unless she's able to keep pumping personal cash into the race.
That's just a few highlights. What did you see, hear, or experience on election night? What surprised you?
Election results are here.
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