I know one candidate that's not officially filed his candidacy, but he has formed a candidate committee to raise money:

-Tony Marino, Republican - House District 35 (Rep. Larry Galizio, incumbent)

His website his...interesting.

Hell yeah Brent Barton...for those of you who don't know this guy, he is an amazing young talent. He will do wonderful things in the legislature when he beats Linda Flores. His website is www.votebrentbarton.com. Go there and help him defeat one of the worst Republicans in the legislature. She is now one of the leaders of the effort to repeal domestic partnerships for lgbt Oregonians because it is "marriage by another name." Apparently she wants no legal recognition at all for lgbt couples...that is extreme. Please help Brent out.

This sounds like the best place to give credit to Jack Roberts for saying this in the Oregonian article:

"It's a wake-up call," says former state labor commissioner Jack Roberts. "We've been spending so much of our time arguing about who is more Republican, and the voters are electing people who aren't Republican at all."

ANY party which spends more time on partisan purity than on attracting voters who might not be straight party voters is a party in trouble. Democrats lived through that in the past and now Republicans are living through that.

Wow, Cowan and Chris Edwards both getting byes. I would have thought after doing an underhanded robocall bomb on Edwards for allegedly voting the wrong way on something during the regular legislative session, the Republicans were planning to go to the mat to try to get that seat back. But not a peep from the Republicans. Former reps Pat and Debi Farr and city councilor Jennifer Solomon, the only area Republicans I can think of, have all expressed lack of interest.

Other Lane County Democrats are pretty much entrenched and deserve re-election. Looks Like I may really be spending all my energy on the winner of the US Senate primary this year. And on O'Bama, in the unlikely event that he looks like he might need help carrying the state in November....

I like Steve and know him well. However I think he'll fall victim to statewide trends. He's a Republican in a Democratic year in a district that would be hard for any democrat to win. Add to that the fact that, as Kari points out, the Rs are going to have one hell of a time defending their own seats. Finally, this seat is, at best, the fourth or fifth most vulnerable D seat behind Galizio, Riley, Edwards and probably Cowan or Roblan as well.

Obviously I meant a district that would be very hard for any Republican to win, D'oh!

HD38: Griffith

Definitely shouldn't count this race out. Yes he works for a big law firm and can probably attract money to the race and certainly his attitudes are more in line with the Democrats than the Republicans...but have you ever heard him talk in a political setting? He's just about the most boring, uninteresting, uninspiring person I've ever come across. MacPherson won that race in '02 because he went door to door in the district and that's how the Democrat is going to win in that district again. We can only hope that Griffith does the same :) And I second what Don says...it's going to be a tough year for the Republicans all around.

I filed on the last day at 4pm, specifically to avoid drawing attention to my campaign in 2006.

Yes, and we all know how that worked out Rep., er, Mr. Peralta.

Caveat emptor?

Fact is, there's no reason for the GOP not to start raising money as soon as possible to defeat incumbent Democrats. Unless their candidates are so weak that they have to be announced as a slate en bloc to rely solely on strength-in-numbers.

Which appears to be the case. That's Kari's point--most of these races will inevitably have GOP challengers, but the quality of them is being hidden right now.

What did you have to hide that you filed so late?

Jack, given that Sal ran in a district which FP and certain Democrats would put into the category of "lousy R to D ratio, why even run if you don't have a chance?", Sal did very well--would have won without the 3rd party candidate, as I recall.

Sal is right about this, Don is making the same mistake that FuturePac's consultants have made for years -- the reason why Democrats have never won a district with a GOP edge until Edwards finally broke through. People elect candidates, not political parties.

Sal lost by 359 votes out of a total of 23065. D. Terry (L)got 852 votes.

Is that fact, opinion, or what?

I have to disagree with anony mouse. Though Steve Griffith has a reputation for being long-winded, I have found that he can be an inspirational speaker. His eyes open wide and his enthusiasm can be read immediately on his face. When he speaks, he articulates every word carefully giving one the immediate impression that he really cares about whatever it is he's talking about. He's obviously a bright man, but I think that district will be an uphill battle for him. However, I'm not sure the republicans have much else this year. If they have any resources left at all I'm sure they'll be pouring into his campaign. I'm also not sure why he's a republican. He's all about strong, well-funded schools and I know he cares deeply about the environment. Isn't Greg Macpherson also a Stoel Rives attorney?

To answer a couple of comments:

1. Yes, Macpherson is a Stoel Rives Attorney.
2. I agree with you Sal, there is no shame in losing the way you ran your campaign. Plenty of successful politicians lost their first time out. I remember listening to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) describe how his loss in his first run at the US House really helped build his skills so that he then upset the incumbent two years later.
3. It is true that the Rs filed later in many seats in 2006. Just two examples, both Tobias Read and Suzanne Bonnamici (sp, sorry) had no R opponents until the filing day.

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