If Sam is leading by 8 points among Dems and 12 points among independents, I'm having a hard time understanding why the overall race is so close. Given that 69% of likely voters are Dems, and another 12% are independents, and Sam holds leads in both categories, how can he be tied statistically? The math doesn't seem to be working here.

What am I missing?

Wow, that's a pretty marked difference in ideological demographics. Interesting too that they both endorsed Merkley early on. I've wondered all along why Sho endorsed him. Given these cross tab stats I wonder if it might have been a means of framing the public's perception of him? Kinda like Smith trying to tie himself to Darcy Burner's plan?

AND

OK there... let's not turn this into another thread about the Senate race. Plenty of places for that chatter.

Translation: Down boy...DOWN!

I suppose this thread isn't for the Merkley client, Kevin...

Miles, I don't think you're missing anything. I expect Sam to roll Sho (don't get me wrong he's a good candidate but Sam is better) over. It's an early season poll. When it all comes down to it who has experience on the council and is an extremely progressive candidate? It's a good showing by Sho but I'd be surprised if this goes to a runoff.

The reason Sho is competitive is because he's got a lock on the Republican vote. Sure, that's only 17% of likely voters according to SUSA, but a 41-point margin among 17% of the voters is a big boost. Among Dems, Sam's lead is only 8 points. Sam does best among independents, with a 12-point lead, but there are fewer independents than Republicans in SUSA's likely voter model.

Sam does very well with young voters, with a 33-point margin among 18-34s. If Obama is able to turn out young voters here like he has elsewhere, that could help Sam.

Sho doesn't have to do a lot to pander to Republicans. Just opposing Sam helps. That allows him plenty of room to position himself as palatable to the majority.

In my non-expert opinion, Sam needs to position himself as a Democrat running against a Republican.

...and that looks like exactly what Sam's going to do:

According to poll conducted exclusively for KATU-TV by SurveyUSA, “Liberals back Adams. Conservatives back Dozono” Among voters who say schools are the most important issue for Portland's next mayor, Adams leads by 14 points. “The poll does clarify what is at stake in the race: My support is coming from people who care about schools and who share Portland’s progressive values. Sho clearly is drawing his support from conservatives. There is a definite contrast here, and I think that as the campaign continues, that will be good for us,” Adams said.

I am a liberal and socially more liberal than most of the posters on this blog. I support Sho Dozono.

Sho is a democrat and all of his decades of volunteer work for our community demonstrate this.

If Sho had been an usuccessful business person who committed huge amounts of time, energy, and money into bettering of our community (i.e., schools and education, arts, and civil rights) would you like him better?

Karin,

I don't think anyone is saying only conservatives and republicans support Sho, but an overwhelming amount do. That should say something, I think. (It should also be pointed out that it was a "robo" poll done by automatic telephone. That isn't the most accurate way of conducting a poll, but it does alright.)

I know that you've supported Sho from the beginning, and I suspect your husband the Mayor has too. It seems pretty well known that there's been a long standing grudge against Sam there, and you may indeed have your reasons.

But I'm getting awfully sad that the "anybody but the front runner" leads people to looking at someone with little experience in city government, and no clear grasp on policies or city functions. This has been my continuing frustration with the current Mayor as well.

Is Sho a nice guy? Seems so. Has he helped do good things in our community? Definitely. Does that mean he should be Mayor? I don't think so.

Especially with two other council races likely to have folks with no firsthand experience of running a city, I just can't see how Portland would be better off under Sho.

Listening to KPOJ this morning - Tom Dwyer (progressive and dedicated sponsor of Thom Hartmann local show) endorses Steve Novick.

Justin,

Following your line of reasoning, who do you support in the presidential race? Must be Clinton or McCain. (And, maybe so. It's your right.) But, I find it very ironic that many of the same voices that use the experience logic for choice of mayor also support Obama.

Experience gaming the system doesn't mean you are the best for the job of leading a city. It only shows you are best at gaming the system.

I am saddened you are disappointed by the current mayor. I am not disappointed. He is doing exactly the things he has said he would do. If it wasn't what you really wanted maybe you should have voted for the guy who was much more "experienced." (Maybe you did. It's your right.)

Tom has done amazing work that has gone underappreciated by the status quo (go figure). That is unfortunate.

Sho Dozono's huge resume of volunteer efforts around education funding, the arts and civil rights are important reasons for me support Sho over his competitor. But, just as important to me is his understanding of the value of the ground work that has been laid by Tom Potter.

Sho Dozono gets it. Sho Dozono gets it done.

Karin- I think the above commenter makes some good points. And considering you're the wife of Mayor Tom Potter, I wonder if your lines are as credible as a regular progressive voter.

More to the point, this election's about a clear choice. As this post says, what's interesting is found in the poll's crosstabs. There, we learn that "among Portland voters who say schools are the most important issue for Portland's next mayor, Adams leads by 14 points."

Sam won the sole endorsement of Stand for Children and the Portland Association of Teachers because he understands the problems facing our schools and knows what needs to be done. As the poll shows, Portlanders agree.

Sho's running on his business background and on education. On the first one, he only managed to score a dual-endorsement of the Portland Business Alliance after a long, distinguished business career and after being the group's chair. Seems like the business community thinks Sam Adams can also do well for Portland's businesses. On the second, Portland's education community is clearing supporting Sam and his vision based on the endorsements and the poll results.

After those, what does Sho have left? I guess the poll's also clear here: the support of conservatives. And he has an unethical streak, to boot...

I'm a very progressive democrat, and I won't support "Tax 'em Sam" Adams. I think "Tax 'em Sam" would hit the middle class & those on fixed incomes with a host of new fees & taxes to fund unnecessary pet projects & toys he wants.

Thom Hartmann was addressing this poll on his local hour this morning and to his credit, he said that there really isn't a conservative candidate in the race and that if you look at Sho's record, he's a "moderate liberal." Those are Hartmann's words.

This continued characterization of Sho as some right wing, big business type is simply not correct if you look at the detail of his platform. There really isn't classic conservative candidate, so conservatives are going with the moderate, centrist candidate. He's also endorsed by Potter, who was the liberal darling candidate in 2004.

Notice that there is a lot of support for "Other" among conservatives and for conservative topics. That's definitely not your anarchist crowd, but probably your Lars Larson fanbase looking for a hero. I think Hartmann's characterization of Sho as a "moderate liberal" is accurate.

"Karin- ... And considering you're the wife of Mayor Tom Potter, I wonder if your lines are as credible as a regular progressive voter."

I won't dignify that comment with any more than repeating it and asking you to think about it and the sexism that it implies.

I have real work to do.

PS I was a teacher and am still very connected to the educational systems in Portland. I know who has done more for education and so do my numerous teacher friends. I learned from Tom's campaign that edorsements from organizations and unions are strictly political. They mean nothing to me. People cast votes.

Karin,

Hillary has less experience in elected politics as Obama does. I mean, unless you count her being a first lady and then that would make Laura Bush about as qualified to be President as Hillary. Your argument doesn't stick there. The other argument is I know what I get with Hillary and I can't say I like partisan bickering and I'm pretty tired of it. I know what I get with Sam and that's a progressive candidate who cares about the same things I care about. So that argument can't be made.

I voted for Tom Potter during the primary and voted for Francesconi in the general election because in between the two of those it became really clear that Tom lacked any sort of reality on how he was going to get anything done. Here are some examples of promises he made that were never kept: helping PSU build a new performing arts center, transform the dilapidated Centennial Mills structure along the northwest bank of the Willamette, overhauling all the city bureaus (I'm still not sure what was wrong with some of them like the Parks or Fire), and encourage better direct support for the arts. He's wasted his time on trying to change Portland's govt. to a strong mayor system (and failed in a flaming mess) and people downtown are still making fun of the fiasco of visonPDX. We're still seeing fingerprints of Francesconi all around our city in the transit mall project and in our parks. Plus he made some pretty funny jokes to me while we were standing in Pioneer Square watching John Edwards.

Sure there isn't anything really wrong with Sho. He's a very good candidate and I'm glad someone is going to push Sam to be a great candidate and really show his merits!

Almost forgot, I think "Tax 'em Sam" would hit the middle class & those on fixed incomes with a host of new fees & taxes to fund unnecessary pet projects & toys he wants.

Cause paving our roads is a really sucky "pet" project.

Yes, Tom Potter did exactly what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail = nothing. Ms. Hansen, no offense, I am sure you are a nice person, and Ive met your husband and he seemed nice. But that doesn’t mean he’s been a good mayor. We’ve been lacking in direction for years under Tom Potter and he wasted so much time on his lame strong mayor proposal. Dozono’s lack of specifics or understanding of how things actually work scares the crap out of me.

And if conservatives are backing Dozono – that is all I need to know.

We are quite off topic, but I will make this one last statement..

The work that Tom Potter does isn't about building monuments, he is about building up people and empowering people. He believes, as I do, that we build buildings to meet the needs of our community in order to strengthen it. And, he is continually doing that. He doesn't believe in building things to say, "See. I did that."

Below is a list of many of the accomplishments of the Potter Administration:

Youth engagement (Youth and Children's Bill of Rights, Youth Planner Program, etc.) Removal of PPB from the Joint Terrorism Taskforce City-business relationship improvement School districts relationship improvement School-year funding rescue State-wide, nation-wide, and worldwide relationship improvement Neighborhood restructuring (Community Connect) City Charter improvements (three out of four ain’t bad) Day Laborer Hiring Center Creation of the Office of Youth and Violence Prevention Creation of the Office of Human Relations and Human Rights Commission Overhaul of city employee practices (Bureau Innovation Project) Improved budgeting process Promotion of Rosie Sizer to Portland Police Chief Portland Plan development Portland Development Commission responding more to community needs (small businesses, and women and minority owned businesses) City-wide drug strategy Immigrant and refugee task force Independent Police Review (IPR) outside audit Addressing racial profiling Creation of the Office of Film and Video Creation of City Hall 101 to educate candidates and community members on how our city functions.

This is just a brief and incomplete list that doesn’t include all of the many political fires that have been calmed or put out. If you want to see more, go to http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?c=46194

Also, there is progress on Centennial Mills. I haven't heard anything about a performing arts center at PSU, so I will give you that one.

Karin- unfortunately, you missed my point. I’m not being sexist when I acknowledge your relationship with the current Mayor, I’m simply saying that everyone knows that your husband and you have had it in for Sam from the beginning. Heck, for all we know you recruited Dozono to run.

Your husband has been making it his legacy to get himself replaced by Dozono— and he has not been acting in good faith of the people that elected him for some time now (see what Amy Ruiz wrote about the Sauvie Island bridge, for example, in the Mercury). If you like polls, you might also want to look up the one from the Tribune a couple of months back. Potter’s positive numbers were the lowest on the Council and his negatives were the highest. That is not a good sign.

The campaign to get Dozono elected being run from the Mayor’s office is not dignified.

As for endorsing organizations picking Sam for political reasons – the opposite is true. This town loves an underdog and volunteers from the education community could very well have picked him - had they been impressed. My understanding is that the only thing more frustrating than watching Dozono on the stump at a forum is interviewing him for an endorsement. Case in point - check out his willamette week endorsement interview.

Some of Potter's accomplishments sort of confuse me. Why is appointing Rosie Sizer an accomplishment? Wasn't she the most qualified person and 2nd in command anyway after Foxworth's sexy messages leaked out? He addressed racial profiling and the police are still doing it, the IPR audit was pretty much ignored from what I can tell...it's all beside the point. I think Tom was marvelous on a lot of things like pulling us out of the J.T.T.F. but as a whole many of his larger projects were ineffective and he has created an obvious air of dislike on the council.

Mayors accomplish things. I really think Sam will accomplish things and Sho is going to have to spend half his first term trying to figure out how to accomplish something on the council. At this point in time I don't think we need another guy who has to learn on the job and establish relationships with other members of the council. Considering how he carried himself in the WW candidate interview I don't know how he would manage to improve relations with current council members because he's pretty defensive and doesn't seem to have a lot of answers for any of their questions.

It's pretty clear here folks. Two stories about the mayors race authored by Kari Chisholm. Mark Weiner must have sent the memo to turn up the rhetoric because Sam's numbers are free falling - Watch this site start to call Sho Portland's Dick Cheney, despite all the freebees Sho has given to the Democrats and the Progressives for campaigns, causes and candidates. Knock it off.

Sam is too uptight for his own good. He would be a lot better off if he didn't tend to force feed us his green agenda down our throats. The poll should say something to Sam like "lighten up, dude".

..and for Miles...what you are missing is the fact that a lot of people are getting tired of Sam force feeding them his green agenda down their collective throats and using his bicycle status as the catalyst for that feeding.

I think Kari Chisholm should go to the convention as the Blogger for Oregon. What do you think? The deadline is Tuesday.

Although I don't agree with you most of the time, I think your site is informative and not just hate-filled, which is why I recommended it to Washington Post.

Well, Eric, I was really talking more about the math and less about the politics.

Going back through the crosstabs in detail, of course the math does work. Of the 599 likely voters counted in the poll, 587 of them fall into the Dem, Repub, or Indy categories. Of those, Sam racks up a lead of 33 among Dems and another 8 among independents. But Dozono makes it all back among Republicans.

Overall, this seems like bad news for Adams since it will be easier for Dozono to pick up Democratic support than it will be for Adams to pick up Republican support. On the other hand, turnout among Democrats for the May primary is obviously going to be much higher among Dems than Republicans, potentially even dwarfing the 69%/17% split of likely voters in this poll.

Sam probably needs to make this a two-person race as much as possible and try to keep the votes for all other candidates under 5%. If he does that and gets a huge Dem turnout, he could potentially win the race outright. But to me, this poll shows danger for Sam if it goes to the general election.

what you are missing is the fact that a lot of people are getting tired of Sam force feeding them his green agenda down their collective throats and using his bicycle status as the catalyst for that feeding.

On the politics, I'm not even really sure what this means, Eric. But I do know that Sam's agenda is consistent with most of Portland -- and yes, that includes higher taxes to adequately fund our infrastructure, as well as additional funding for mass transit and (bogeyman alert!) bicycles. And I know that Sam will get things done, which can't be said for Potter or his protege Dozono.

The overall results of this poll are what is important: Adams only leads by one percentage point. The election isn't going to be decided by just one demographic but rather the entire community as a whole. Dozono gets my vote as I don't think Adams has done an exemplary job as a city council member, and I think Dozono is better equipped to deal with our complex economic environment in Portland. Adams may know the art scene, but he doesn't do well with complex economic decisions as compared with Dozono in my opinion.

what you are missing is the fact that a lot of people are getting tired of Sam force feeding them his green agenda down their collective throats and using his bicycle status as the catalyst for that feeding.

I take it you're one of the people that doesn't believe global climate change exists because if you aren't this is one of the most ridiculous statements I've ever read. Talking about riding his bike to work is called leading by example. If you don't realize that the green agenda is a good thing then maybe you should have it force fed down your throat.

Chuck- If by "complex economic decisions" you mean weighing the ethics of stealing from a child’s trust fund to prop up your business, versus choosing a different route – then I got you. Or by complex economic decisions you mean having a lobbyist pay for your 27k poll and then hiding it because it would go against the rules if you told the truth – maybe that is what you mean...

Adams leads substantially among the youngest voters, is essentially tied in the 35-49 age category, and loses the older voters. Given turnout trends, particularly in a primary, this is going to be a real plus for Dozono.

Paul G., do you expect that to hold true for this primary, however? Young people have been turning out in record numbers to support Obama, and I don't think Oregon will be any different. And I think Obama supporters will trend towards Sam.

These numbers undercut Adams's claim to have the support of "people who care about schools and Portland's progressive vision."

How so? The crosstabs show that Adams leads 46%-32% among those who identify schools as the top issue for the next Mayor (37% of the electorate, which is funny since city government does very little with the schools). So I think Adams does have the support of that group.

Sal- I may have pushed it too far with my last post. You're right – Dozono seems to have done some good things. But he has also done some not so good things that have yet to be fully scrutinized by the press. Does everyone at least agree with me on that point?

Dozono may be a fine person, let’s concede that. But I will not concede that he is ready to run this city. He actually said in his Willamette Week interview that “Portlanders aren’t asking for specifics.” This is not someone I want taking over for the next four years...

Sho is anti-Labor and that to me is really a true test of progressive values. Either you are for people who are busting their collective asses to make ends meet or your not.

There is a clear choice between the two candidates.

Adams wants to be coroneted King of Portland so he can dictate lifestyles, housing and transportation choices using the public’s money.

Dozono rightly explains the City that Works in broken and wants to fix it including the accountability of public spending in a democratic government.

The Adams voter base are the young far left liberals that have had everything handed to them on a silver platter – be it education, free bicycle infrastructure for bicyclists that somebody else pays for, subsidized housing that somebody else pays for, etc, etc, etc. However what they don’t seem to realize is the ever increasing debt being created will be theirs to pay off long run.

The Dozono voter base is more mature - people that were brought up with a work ethic whereby you earn what you have. They are annoyed with the Adam’s circus and his indebtedness policies for an agenda of projects and toys they see little or no benefit in paying for while not maintaining what we currently have in place. Moreover Adams has refused to include “age” in the Portland’s anti-discrimination policies and in most cases stacked greatly the deck in his favor on so-called “objective” citizen advisory committees.

Adams is the insider back room deal making career politician that is always in your face.

Dozono is the businessman, statesman, and of the two, the only candidate actually running to be the Mayor of Portland.

"And if conservatives are backing Dozono – that is all I need to know."

Don't be such a simpleton, james..."conservatives" aren't supporting anyone in this race. Sho would be considered just right of Lenin in most quarters of this country.

Sam leads among 18-34 year olds, based on a robo-phone poll? So what? Think about it: who is flocking to this city from all over the country? It's largely 18-34 year olds, most of whom keep their old cell phones from PA or Iowa or where ever, and therefore aren't subject to phone polls. Trust me, I fall in this category, as do most people I know. I and all of my friends are extremely liberal, and I know exactly one person who is voting for Sam.

Of course, my unsientific survey of my circle of friends is about as valid as a phone poll of 18-34 year olds, most of whom haven't used a "land line" since they moved out and went to college.

I am backing Dozono because Sammy Boy is just a little too pushy and arrogant for my taste.

"Adams wants to be coroneted King of Portland so he can dictate lifestyles, housing and transportation choices using the public’s money." - I.E. force feed us crap whether we need it or not. ...and that includes his ecozealot green agenda.

Don't get me wrong - I am for enviromental policies...as long as they are not forced down my throat with the explination that "you have no choioce in the matter" when it would be better if we made the new policies a choice along side the old policies and watch the old policies die away over time.

But when you have a pushy brat like Sammy Boy running things, it will turn out much like Vicky Phillip's tenure destroying the PPS.

Remember how when Potter was running he would say things like, "I will listen to the people." It sounds an awful lot like when Sho rambles on and on about his business connections. Neither of them really mean anything.

There are so many questions about Dozono it's not even funny. Did any of you Sho supporters watch the Willamette Week interview with him? Sho kept getting in an uproar because he was mad the people of Portland fought off a Wal-Mart on Hayden Island and Sam was part of that effort. That really makes us look anti business? He looks and sounds like he doesn't know a damned thing about what's going on with day to day operations of a city. Just the guy we need to jump in and jump start our city after 4 years of Potter's brand of not getting much done. There has been more press coverage of Potter growing a beard than his accomplishments.

Kari, as a Sam Adams supporter it's no surprise that you put such a sunny spin on what should be troubling news for your candidate: that only weeks after the Adams campaign helped to disqualify Dozono from receiving public financing, it's clearly Sho who's got the momentum in bringing the race to a statistical dead-heat.

Interestingly, if you take a look at the voting results for Candidates Gone Wild they're strikingly similar to the KATU poll:

Candidates Gone Wild
Adams: 2,886 = 39%
Dozono: 2,680 = 36%
Other: 1,781 = 24%

KATU Adams: 39% Dozono: 38% Other: 14% Undecided: 10%

Mike- in the Candidates Gone Wild poll you had to vote for two people -- NOT just one. Do the math!

"My support is coming from people who care about schools and who share Portland’s progressive values. . . . Sam Adams"

If I may differ: 1) What exactly has Mr Adams done for schools (unless you count on voting for some free money.) 2) Portland City Council is not repsonsible for schools (though they arent responsible for bridges and Mr Adams thinks he can build a streetcar bridge while Sellwood bridge falls down) 3) Mr Adams can't take care of what he is suppoed to - potholes in roads.

Goody, lsts set up a straw dog and let the smears begin. May Portland get what it deserves.

"In the Candidates Gone Wild poll you had to vote for two people -- NOT just one. Do the math!"

progress? - I'm sorry if your math abilities were offended, but I was merely pointing out that the two sets of numbers were similar and lend support to this being a competitive race. Even with people voting for TWO candidates for CGW, they still overwhelmingly selected the two who have the greatest name recognition. If people disliked one of the two they were free to cast their second vote for a lesser-known candidate with the hope of eliminating the opponent, yet any such strategies weren't statistically significant. Of course, the CGW numbers would've been more useful if the candidates had been ranked in order of preference.

I don't live in Portland, but I'm following this one. This race doesn't seem to be conservative vs. liberal so much as idea man vs. businessman. They're both fairly progressive. I'm not sure which variety is more needed right now. Would an idealist push things further, and thus achieve more even if not everything gets accomplished, or would an even-keeled businessman offer the best stewardship in an economic storm? Hard to say. But this I do know: the media's playing of this race as left vs. right is more ridiculous pandering to the divisiveness that's part of our current societal illness. It's more exciting than to simply paint it as either or. From what I can tell, it's almost a draw on the pro's and con's.

I hate it when policies are shoved down my throat. That's why I oppose, you know, laws.

Really, what point are green policies if they aren't laws? Should City Hall just come up with some suggestions to be ignored while the globe burns up?

BBC:

Most people are ready to make personal sacrifices to address climate change, according to a BBC poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries. Seventy per cent of people said they were prepared to change their lifestyle - even in the US and China, the world's two biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.

I am a very progressive Democrat, but I won't vote for "taxin' Sam".

Since 1996, I have thought Portland is becoming too much like San Francisco, which is fine in most regards, but it is unaffordable for the poor, the middle income families, and those on fixed incomes. And I don't think "Tax 'em Sam" has any grasp of this danger whatsoever.

In addition, "Tax 'em Sam" has never shown any concern for fiscal discipline in city hall; he's been blood-curdling-ready to raise taxes and fees for his pet projects.

I am a very progressive Democrat, but I won't vote for "taxin' Sam".

When you and others have to come out and say this, I always wonder... really?

In addition, "Tax 'em Sam" has never shown any concern for fiscal discipline in city hall; he's been blood-curdling-ready to raise taxes and fees for his pet projects.

He wanted to raise taxes to pay for our streets. I don't know if you noticed but I'm kind of sick of driving on pot holes.

Really though. No Sho supporter can show me how he's going to fix anything we have right now and he looks like a complete amateur and he doesn't know what he's talking about in interviews. Do we really need someone that doesn't even understand our problems.

Plus why would we want an ex PBA head as mayor of our city? This is the group that is behind that fake police officers downtown, the illegal sit/lie ordinance and countless other BAD ideas.

I don't think Portland streets are that bad - there are thousands of other communities with real problems with their street maintenance.

"Tax 'em Sam" will drive middle income, the poor and those on fixed incomes out of Portland with all his fees/taxes for all his pet projects.

I don't want to see Portland become another San Francisco in that it is too expensive to live for most people, and "tax 'em Sam" will take us down that path.

I'm voting for fiscal discipline - I'm voting for Sho.

I was one of the people called for this poll, and I totally support Sam Adams for Mayor!

Demographically, I am a 58 yr old progressive Democrat, have a cellphone with me that I answer regularly and a landline I only answer if I'm close by & recognize that rare someone I want to speak with on the caller id. (My home number was wrongly printed in the directory) It displayed 'Poll from KATU' or some such & hoping it was political I answered.

Again demographics, both myself and my 78 yr old mother will be voting for Sam, as will my 30+ yr old daughter. There are plenty of over-45 voters for Sam, a true progressive, hardworking, experienced choice for our city.

I am sorry to say that I initially strongly supported Tom Potter and continued to believe at least that his heart was in the right place, until the day he voted down the Linnton Village Plan for the Linnton neighborhood, trashing the long, hard work of so many Linnton residents & property owners after leading them on. That day I ripped my Potter sticker off my car.

I was so pleased that Potter did not run again and believe it's shameful that he wants to wish another inexperienced, unprepared mayor upon us, just to continue his (& apparently his wife's) vendetta against Sam.

And I'm sure we'll be hearing more detail about Dozono, like his unethical use of a child's trust fund to fund his businesses.

We know and love Sam, we can't afford to lose his needed leadership to repair our city and move forward.

Sam Adams is an angry young man who had to declare personal bankruptcy in the past. It's a sad world we live in when major financial mismanagement is not even a stumbling block to a path to manage a city and its finances.

Sam does not have to worry about kids of his own, I have to worry about my kids knowing Sam. Mom of 3

Interesting article about Adams and Dozono in the Oregonian today (April 13).

Sam Adams is an angry young man who had to declare personal bankruptcy in the past. It's a sad world we live in when major financial mismanagement is not even a stumbling block to a path to manage a city and its finances.

WTF? You are completely uninformed. He did what so many of us did out of college which is not pay for health insurance because it's expensive, we can't afford it and we're young and healthy. He got appendicitis and then had to declare bankruptcy. At least know your facts before you throw them around like you know some sort of dirty little secret. It's not like he bought a car and a house and a diamond pinky ring...he got sick and didn't have insurance.

Someone said: 'Sam does not have to worry about kids of his own, I have to worry about my kids knowing Sam. Mom of 3'

This statement is on Blue Oregon?? Another Republican homophobe?? I am proud that my kids know Sam & will be voting for him! Sam cares about all our kids.

This statement is on Blue Oregon?? Another Republican homophobe?? I am proud that my kids know Sam & will be voting for him! Sam cares about all our kids.

Sam Adams being gay is irrelevant. He's the best candidate to run city hall. This isn't about homophobia or not. Sho will run city hall like Tom Potter. Vera was sort of abrasive but she did some really good things. Sho looks like he's going to be led around by a handler for a few years. If he's elected I just figure I'll see him waving in the middle of the street 3 years from now trying to campaign for a strong mayor system and then blaming the lack of a strong mayor system on his ineffectiveness. I'm not going to be sarcastic. Sho isn't what we need. Does nobody else get the weak personality he portrays? Do you not think Randy Leonard (I do like him by the way) isn't going to walk all over him?

What difference does it make how strong or weak Sam is? Since Randy and Sam are two peas in a pod, at least with Sho you'll get someone who stands up for themselves.

Since Randy and Sam are two peas in a pod, at least with Sho you'll get someone who stands up for themselves.

Uhh...did you watch the WW interview? He looked like Milton from Office Space. I don't want to watch a guy mumble his way through 4 years of city council meetings and just be pissed off like Potter is that nobody listens to him anymore.

Mayor Potter is a perfect example of the fact that a good man does not necessarily make a good mayor. What we have seen of Sho so far appears to put him in the same category - it is no surprise then that Potter has endorsed him.

With Sho, it appears that we risk a city still stuck in neutral for the next 4 years.

With Sam, we have the most active problem-solving commissioner on the council. He's committed to a stong, safe, and healthy city - good schools, good transportation, and a better environment. Sho seems confused about what he's committed to. No wonder conservatives prefer Sho - better nothing gets done than anything progressive.

I find it funny that sames site links to this when talking about the poll instead of directly to the poll on KATU???? I wonder why?