OR-1: All the latest from Bonamici & Cornilles

Kari Chisholm

The race for Oregon's first Congressional District is off and running. Here's a bit of what's been going on:

• No surprise. Rob Cornilles is trotting out tired and debunked right-wing talking points. The latest nonsense? That Suzanne Bonamici supports a $500 billion cut to Medicare. PolitiFact Oregon notes that that claim has been labeled false around the country again and again and again - and it's just as false now as it was last year when Scott Bruun tried that claim against Kurt Schrader.
  
  Of course, it's not a cut to Medicare at all. It's savings against future cost increases that come from reforming the system and reducing costs. Even if it was direct reductions in benefits (which it is not), they would be reductions-in-future-growth. The most hilarious thing is that it's usually Republicans who are screaming, "It's not a cut! It's a reduction in future spending growth!" Sigh.

• The first Bonamici/Cornilles debate has been scheduled for November 27. Interestingly, it will be a debate hosted by the (oxymoronically-named) Independent Party, in advance of their internet-only primary election on November 29. (Voting started on Monday for the roughly 13,000 registered IPO voters.) The debate will be broadcast on KATU. Has there ever before been a minor-party primary debate broadcast on network television in Oregon? Almost certainly not. (Anywhere in the country? I don't know; do you?) The Oregonian/KGW debate is already scheduled for January 10.

• Last week, Bonamici announced that she will resign her State Senate seat in advance of the January 31 election. She will resign so that the process to replace her can be completed by the session that starts on February 1. Rep. Chris Harker (D-Beaverton) has said he'll seek the appointment, so hopefully her resignation will be early enough to accommodate back-to-back appointments. He's not guaranteed the seat, but it's good that folks are paying attention to the possibilities - as a 16-14 Senate and a 30-30 House mean that a single vacancy can alter the balance of power. (Incidentally, there's a second candidate for Bonamici's seat - Dr. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward)

• Republicans are out there claiming that they've got a shot at OR-1, but the numbers tell a different tale. Despite GOP turnout that was (as usual) higher than among Democrats, and a relatively uncontested race on the GOP side, and a higher winning percentage, Rob Cornilles earned nearly 10,000 votes fewer than Suzanne Bonamici. And the total Republican vote was more than 20,000 votes less than the total Democratic vote.

Now, crazy things can happen in special elections - and this one is going to come on the heels of whatever insanity is the result of the supercommittee deliberations back in Washington. And that's all the more true since Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers, and their pals will be looking to test their 2012 messages in Oregon (where right-wingers have long test-marketed their messages) with millions of bucks in attack ads.

So, we're all going to have to work hard to get out the vote in OR-1 -- and make sure that Suzanne Bonamici has the resources she needs to build a grassroots campaign and compete on the airwaves. So head on over to ActBlue and chip in to help Bonamici launch her general election campaign. No, really, do it right now.

By Kari Chisholm Nov. 16, 2011