Covering the competitive legislative primary races
blueoregon admin
Over the next week or so, Blue Oregon will be running a series of guest columns by the Democratic candidates running in competitive primaries for the state legislature. With so much attention going to the statewide races, our hope is to bring some attention to the down-ballot races that are, in many cases, just as competitive and just as exciting.
The districts covered include::
- SD 23 (now held by Sen. Avel Gordly)
- HD 49 (now held by Rep. Karen Minnis)
- HD 45 (now held by Rep. Jackie Dingfelder)
- HD 42 (now held by Rep. Diane Rosebaum)
- HD 38 (now held by Rep. Greg Macpherson)
- HD 7 (challenging GOP Rep. Bruce Hanna)
This morning, we posted the first one - by Sean Cruz, candidate for SD 23.
A note about process: We solicited a guest column from every candidate in these races, and we'll run those that were returned by midnight last night. Candidates had a week to submit their posts - and were asked to send their guest columns directly to the BlueOregon Fellow, Nick Wirth, and BlueOregon co-editor Jeff Alworth. Nick will compile and post them.
Also, we explicitly asked all candidates to send their columns to Nick and Jeff - and not to BlueOregon co-editor Kari Chisholm -- because his firm works for a number of the candidates in these competitive races. Kari will not see these columns before they appear on the site.
We hope you enjoy them.
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Apr 17, '08
Why does anyone consider HD 7 or SD 23 to be remotely competitive. Trust me they are not!
11:35 a.m.
Apr 17, '08
When we say competitive races, we're talking about in the primary election; races that have multiple democratic candidates running for the nomination.
12:04 p.m.
Apr 17, '08
A, since clearly you have been following these races closer than I have, maybe you can tell me who is going to win these "not competitive" primaries.
12:33 p.m.
Apr 17, '08
Does BlueOregon encourage its readers to ask the candidates questions in the comments section? Are the candidates standing by to respond? You know which issue I'll ask about.
12:58 p.m.
Apr 17, '08
Of course! We encourage our readers to ask questions - and we encourage candidates to answer them.
Apr 17, '08
Of course I love a good challenge. The winners in each of these primaries (and by the way, most won't even be close) are:
SD 23, Jackie Dingfelder; HB 49, Nick Kahl; HD 45, Mike Dembrow (narrowly over Cyreena Boston); HD 42, Regan Gray;HD 38,Chris Garrett; and HD 7, Bruce Hanna.....
Apr 17, '08
For what's worth, Nick, I think A might be right (though I cannot predict HD 42).
Apr 17, '08
I think that HD 42 is WAY to close to call. As someone who lives in the district I really think its anyones race. Same with HD 45. It is so exciting to see this post. I cant wait to hear more about all of the candidates. I love a good primary!
5:07 p.m.
Apr 17, '08
I also tend to think 42 is too close to call, but I agree with a few of your other choices. I don't know much about 45 but have heard others claim it's gonna be close too (with an edge to Kahl). Also I noticed you dodged HD7 which I was particularly interested in since I know nothing about Nordin or McKibbin. I don't think this seat is out of reach to the right candidate though (especially if they're willing to run for two cycles).
5:10 p.m.
Apr 17, '08
Oh, and K&Z, are you Ken or Nick? I thought I was the only person on here who stalked the food blogs as much as the political blogs...
Apr 17, '08
"Why does anyone consider HD 7 or SD 23 to be remotely competitive. Trust me they are not!"
A, are you saying that because you've been out canvassing at least twice a month for your candidate, and heard from those at the door that they are all voting the same way?
If so, more power to you. But if this is all about endorsements or money or polling or something like that, you are a perfect example of why many people just ignore politics.
In Oregon and elsewhere (most famously that Obama and Huckabee couldn't possibly do well in the Iowa caucuses because the "smart money" said otherwise) such predictions are proved wrong all the time. I don't know the state rep. who is running, but I have admired the work Sean did for Sen. Gordly (and the work Sen. Gordly did on the Pub. Comm. on the Legislature).
I'm one of those old fashioned people who has worked on so many "impossible" campaigns that I know the only way to truly find out who won is to watch the election returns.
1:49 a.m.
Apr 18, '08