Oregon Blog Updates

A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed that while Barack Obama retains a cozy lead against McCain, a significant number of Americans view Obama as a “risky” choice for the presidency due to his inexperience. A Rasmussen poll shows a similar discomfort, with an increase of 4% (now at 45%) of Americans who have started to think this way since the beginning of his international sojourn.

Risky? Inexperienced? On this planet?

The United States Senator from the state of Arizona, John McCain, has shown that he is profoundly clueless of what is happening in Iraq. In a recent interview on CBS, he showed that he is unaware of the timeline of events of the so-called surge, he is oblivious to the fact that a key Iraqi leader, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, had been killed, and he does not necessarily understand the fundamental difference between the Sunni and Shiites.

Unlike McCain, Obama and his plan for withdrawal has been embraced by Iraqi leadership and he has, most likely due to not only his intelligence but his membership on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to have a solid and impressive understanding of the intricacies of the war in Iraq. So, who is the “risky” choice? Who do we want to continue to navigate the complex world of Middle East politics?

On the next point, hang with me a minute. In a too-long political science/history academic career, one truth that I learned was that in revolutionary countries, those insurgents who ultimately succeeded had, before winning power, constructed a profoundly effective government-in-waiting, a sort of pseudo bureaucracy, so that they were prepared once taking over a government.

Let’s apply that idea to John McCain. His recently departed chief economic advisor Phil Gramm chastised Americans suffering from high food/health care/gas prices and historic foreclosure rates for being just a bunch of "whiners." Further, McCain’s foreign policy staff is a loose collection of folks with no particular assignment other than spouting their own opinions.

In contrast, Obama has surrounded himself with an impressive group of highly organized advisors. A recent New York Times article described his foreign policy team as a “300-person foreign policy campaign bureaucracy, organized like a mini State Department.” The 300 people are organized into teams that handle different geographic and policy areas and are given specific tasks according to their areas of expertise. The advisors include Madeleine Albright, Samantha Power and Anthony Lake. No lightweights, to be sure.

So, who is riskier? A man whose advisor called America a group of whiners and whose foreign policy team operates without direction? Or someone who has already shown an ability to form a highly competent governmental structure?

Now, I could go on. You probably have examples of your own.

Now, my final point. The task of dispelling the supposed “risky” factor cannot be on Obama alone. Democrats, far and wide, need to vanquish this distinctly untrue rumor. So, at your summer barbecues, during your child’s swimming lessons, around your actual water cooler, defend Obama -- and protect your country.

The other day I was surfing around my favorite sites and I found a video called "How to tell people they sound racist," on Racialicious. As people still are learning - and wanting to learn - about how to talk about racism and sexism, I thought this was worth posting.

As Jay Smooth says, these conversations are always awkward, but worth having. It reminds me of so many conversations I've wanted to have but been scared because of the argument that would have certainly followed. Like the time someone said that driving down I-5 in Portland and seeing Cesar Chavez Blvd, Rosa Parks Way and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd would scare tourists and they would keep driving...yeah. I'm still embarrassed that I sat there silently. But guess what? So did everyone else in a room of over 50 people. Or the time I was new on a job and my office mate asked me if I listened to "that jungle bunny music." That didn't end well.

How about you, what's your story?

The news keeps on percolating. Most of these items are certainly worthy of their very own post - but since I'm busy, busy I'll just let you all bat them around in the comments...

• Bloggers around the country are taking note of a letter to Speaker Pelosi that urges her to include transportation changes in an upcoming climate change bill. One asked, "Does your representative get the link between transportation and global warming?" Wondering if Blumenauer had signed on, I discovered... he wrote it.

• Is Senator Jason Atkinson (R-Jacksonville) planning another run for Governor? Sure looks like it.

• Smart guy Republican Dan Lavey calls congressional candidate Mike Erickson a "lost cause" - but the guy keeps pouring money in, nearly a million bucks last quarter. Lavey may call it a "cakewalk" for Kurt Schrader, but I think he's just trying to sandbag us. Anybody willing to pour $2-3 million into an open seat has a decent shot, don't you think?

• So far, the OLCC's new blog is really, really boring. But I can't help notice that one of their first two posts is a response to a recent BlueOregon item by Jeff Alworth.

• Senator Ron Wyden wants the Veterans Administration to explain their decision to bar nonpartisan nonprofit groups from registering voters at VA hospitals. (Keep in mind that some veterans are living in those hospitals for months at a time.) That's right, folks. The Bushies think it's OK to ask people to fight, die, and get injured for democracy - but not vote for democracy.

• So, last week, Gordon Smith called Jeff Merkley a "lawbreaker" - claiming that the DPO's issue ads featuring Merkley break the law. Let's just be crystal clear here. Gordon Smith is the only candidate in the Senate race to have been fined by the FEC for violating campaign finance law. Smith paid $11,000 in fines.

• Yesterday, Jeff Merkley blogged at DailyKos about his experience at Netroots Nation - and included a video:

  Also, the national enviro blog, Grist, has a fantastic interview with Merkley from Netroots Nation. Check out their video interview.

• Over at StopGordonSmith.com, they've noted that "Voter registration numbers for June show that the margin of registered Democrats in Oregon has grown from roughly 70,000 a year ago to more than 200,000." Combined, Clackamas and Washington counties used to be Republican by 4000 voters, now they're Democratic by 30,000 voters. Wow.

Full disclosure: My firm built the campaign websites for Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader, and StopGordonSmith.com - but I speak only for myself.

As we reported earlier, Jeff Merkley made his way down to Netroots Nation, where Oregon's next senator got to chat with some of the non-Oregon netroots.  The reviews fairly glow with praise. I posted an interview Merkley did with Talking Points Memo, impressive enough to David Kurtz that he posted the clip on TPM's front page.  Now it's the Huffington Post's Sam Stein who is impressed. 

Oregon's Democratic House Speaker isn't venturing toward the political center in an effort to pick up votes or protect himself against potential criticism. Rather, he's sticking to definitively progressive positions, whether on FISA, Iraq, trade, or environmental policy. And on occasion he's digging his party's presumptive presidential nominee for venturing away from those battles.

Oregon has never seen a candidate as popular among the netroots as Steve Novick (though the history of the netroots is admittedly short).  Merkley has suffered at home for being the man who challenged, and then beat, Novick.  I don't expect any of the loyal Novickians to change their tune, but it's instructive to see how people outside Oregon respond to Merkley:

A Oregon Democrat who spent time in D.C., Merkley won a hotly contested primary campaign against underdog Steve Novick that pitted - ostensibly - the party establishment (backing Merkley) against much of the netroots (in Novick's corner). And yet, Merkley's philosophical underpinnings seen tailor-made for the progressive community. In addition to being a fierce proponent of environmental protection and health care expansion, he is insistent that the United States withdraw troops from Iraq in an expeditious but responsible manner without any residual bases.

Stein makes a convincing case that, Novick comparisons aside, Merkley would enter the Senate as one of the most progressive Democrats:

"A major mistake has been not to force the Republicans to filibuster day and night on these issues," he said. "The public does not see that obstruction because they don't see on their televisions a senator on the floor of the senate going through the night reading out of a thick tomb of law, if you will, in order to block bills from being considered. We have to put that on show to the American public and show that it's unacceptable... And I am [prepared to start standing up]. FISA is a good example right there. I was proud of Senator Dodd and others for what they did. They lost the vote, but I'm proud of them...."

"We have turned a nation that while run by a terrible dictator was not an enemy of the United States at the time we invaded them and, in fact, was very hostile to al Qaeda [into] a California sized terrorist training camp," he said.

He argued that John McCain's Iraq policy was "absolutely" dangerous to the country and insisted that Congress had an imperative to investigate the Bush administration's politicization of the justice department even after the president left office. "I agree," that criminal proceedings should be on the table, he said.

It's nice to see the rest of the country react to this potential Senator from Oregon--because to them, he looks like a serious winner. Sometimes you can see things more clearly when you have a little distance.  For non-Oregonians, this race isn't just about beating Gordon Smith, it's about adding a true-blue Senator to the ranks. 

Indeed.

By Pam Cosmo of La Pine, Oregon. Pat describes herself as a "freedom-loving,agri-business hating, ex-newspaper woman."

About five years ago, I moved to Deschutes County from South Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is a world class vacation destination, and I am all too familiar with the unintended consequences that resort development entails. I was the special sections editor of the Tahoe Daily Tribune when re-development was just beginning. I used to write about its progress.

I lived in South Lake Tahoe for almost fifteen years. When we got there in 1989, Tahoe was a small town populated for the most part by old hippies from the Bay Area, the offspring of local homesteaders, and Washoe Indians who had been there forever.

It was kind of like here, actually. Lake Tahoe and the mountains and the streams were spectacular and lent themselves to the development of the tourist industry, once the mining of gold and silver in the valley panned out. Family-owned casinos, like Bill Harrah’s, and nice hotels, restaurants, and small ski resorts thrived. They employed local people and they did pretty well. The population grew, a hospital and schools were built and tourists were attracted from all over. It was a nice place to live and raise your kids. The schools were fine, the neighbors were friendly, nobody got rich, but you could go skiing in the winter and fishing in the summer and life was good. Local kids grew up to be teachers, auto mechanics, ski instructors, restaurateurs, store owners, car dealers, and the usual assortment of small town staples.

Time passed, though, and it was the nineties. Money had trickled up. The mega-rich had money to burn and needed to put it somewhere. And, they liked to play – hard. To keep up and compete with Aspen and Vail and other resort areas that were the playgrounds of the privileged, Tahoe had to “re-develop.” We were convinced by the Chamber of Commerce brain trust that it would behoove all of us to tear down all those “unsightly” dumpy little hotels and gift shops and build a massive new complex combining a ski resort, a convention center, a retail complex, huge fancy hotels, timeshares, and a tram going all the way to the top of the mountain. Spectacular!! All those new jobs! All that money flowing in! Everybody had dollar signs in their eyes.

But, here’s what happened: the family owned businesses like Harrah’s got bought out by big international tourist and entertainment conglomerates. The first thing they did was to fire most of the local staff and replace them with an independent housekeeping entity that paid lower wages and provided few benefits. They recruited on a large scale with international employment mills, hiring people from Mexico and the Philippines and the former Soviet Union’s lesser satellite nations. These people proved to be exceptionally fertile, and soon the schools were swamped with students that required English as a Second Language. Since these people had no insurance, they also had to rely on the small hospital’s emergency room for much of their medical care. Now the hospital is perpetually on the brink of bankruptcy. For the first several years, the schools were overwhelmed with all these children. But now families can’t afford to live in Tahoe anymore, so schools are closing due to lack of attendance. My son’s former cute little middle school on the Nevada side, just closed. Sixth graders will attend the high school next year. So did a middle school on the California side. I just found out that the Montessori School is closing as well. The better paying jobs at the college, the City, and the County all have to be staffed with those who are bi-lingual to deal with the fact that the town is now over a third Spanish speaking.

Huge mansions have been built to cater to the rich retiring from Southern California and second homes for those coming in from the East Coast, Asia and Europe. But, they have no interest in investing in the infra-structure, and so they vote “no” on all projects that would involve increasing taxes to fund schools, roads, fire departments, etc. Keep in mind that each rich person requires about ten poor people to attend to him. “Service” implies “servants,” after all. And, they want to keep as much distance from these servants and themselves as possible. A gated community on the North side actually petitioned a Safeway grocery store for their own grocery line so they wouldn’t have to stand in line with the riff-raff from town. Here in Deschutes County, that “riff-raff” would be you.

The financing of these mega developments has been somewhat of a nightmare as well. Projects have been started and halted and re-started depending on the ability to secure and match financing. Resorts and hotels have been sold and re-sold, and many now belong to international corporations whose allegiance is to their stockholders, not the local population. Those initial assurances that all would be well and the locals hired first, the community’s traditions cherished, and all that, have long since disappeared.

Many of those hard-working service workers, who are paid by how many rooms they can clean in a day, fortify themselves with drugs to keep up the pace. So now, there is also the meth problem to deal with. Their children, having no parents at home to supervise them, have formed gangs to give them a sense of “family” and protection, and now big fights break out regularly between rival groups at bus stops and on the school grounds. And, the crime rate has increased dramatically. It’s not the people I blame; it is the corporations that have set up this system of exploitation in both countries that have created this desperate situation. They make money on them from both sides. And, if the workers or their relatives are incarcerated, they make money on that, too, since the prisons have been privatized.

So now, when you go to Tahoe, you’ll see a beautiful, up-scale, world-class resort destination. But, the people working these palaces of privilege are living in barrios and taking the bus. The bus schedules are only printed in Spanish, by the way. There isn’t enough money to print them in English, too. The former local trades people are moving away in droves because the housing costs have gone up so high. People have to jam into apartment slums to live there. Unless you want your kid to grow up dealing Blackjack or carrying the luggage of a fat cat from Shanghai, you must move. The mom and pop places that gave Tahoe its character are now replaced by big franchise stores just like the ones the tourists have at home. The smaller places can’t afford the commercial space. Of course, the fancy new gourmet stores and up-scale theaters are also too expensive for the locals to frequent. They can’t even afford to park downtown. Parking used to be free. It is not their town anymore. The locals now live on the edges.

Another disturbing element is that the tourist trade is ever more vulnerable to the vagaries of the climate, the discretionary income of people from other countries as well as our own - and the price of oil. If many of the airlines fold, and the State workers stop driving the hundred miles to vacation, business will come to a standstill. The town will be crushed under the debt load that it took to re-develop. But, when the citizenry is composed of part-time residents, time-share vacationers, and workers who make subsistence wages and barely speak English, who is going to provide the backbone necessary to pull through hard times? We all need to think seriously of these consequences or blow-back from the big-time tourist trade. It could happen here as well. Once the Resorts are in, “Resistance is Futile”.

I recoiled from living under those circumstances and sought a place far from this “development” nightmare. I moved to La Pine in Deschutes County. And, now, I am hearing the same pitch all over again. But, now we have the additional threats of the end of cheap oil, the financial/credit debacle, water wars, the inflation of food prices and the falling value of the dollar to contend with. That’s in addition to all the inherent damage that resort development accomplishes on its own. I understand that the water level has already dropped 2 feet due to the Thornberg Resort, and it hasn’t even opened yet! They are bringing in over a thousand homes and have built a 26,000 acre lake on land that doesn’t even have a natural stream? What are they thinking??

Trust me, we are looking at a train wreck in slow motion if large scale destination resorts proliferate. In attempting to make more money and increasing the tax base with rich outsiders, we will be destroying the wealth of the community and of the land. Instead, we should be pulling together to work within the limitations we can afford, utilize the talents of our residents, and take care of the people who live here. Think “Bed and Breakfasts” not big hotels. Think Disc Golf, not 18 hole golf courses. Think artist colony, writers workshops, fishing retreats, permaculture seminars, yurt manufacturing, organic farms and specialty produce, ranching and farmer’s markets, pony rides, and trading centers that feature locally made products.

We should be looking to create sustainable communities that localize food production, produce necessities that will no longer be imported due to the rising prices of transportation and manufacture. We should be supporting businesses that create jobs for the families that live here and produce goods and services that are regionally vital in the long term. We should work to make sure that the children who grow up here can find decent jobs and afford homes to live in. We need to focus on quality of life and conservation and preserving the incredible Northwest as we know it. Keep it simple. Keep it wonderful. If we do that, we will continue to be an envy of the world. If we don’t, and we succumb to the Destination Resort siren song, it will be lost. And, it may never come back.

Portland has had only six women as city commissioners in its 157 years of being a city. If that sounds less than progressive than our status claims, you are right. I was given this fun fact from current commission candidate, Amanda Fritz. I sought out Amanda partly out of curiosity, partly out of wanting to support the woman in the race.

My previous experience with Amanda is gossip-based only. Her reputation as a bit antagonist, a rabble rouser and stubborn is well-known in some circles. I've shared my desire to vote for her with other people "in the know" and have seen jaws fall open across town. One friend even said, "Don't do it." But with all things being equal in this race, I want to support the woman. I am motivated by the belief that representative government should reflect the population. Last time I checked, women lived in Portland. So I emailed her and she accepted my offer for a chat.

I told Amanda almost right away that I was compelled to talk to her because she's the only woman in this male-dominated election. She acknowledged the importance in that but wanted the focus to be about why she's the best person, not the best woman. Fair enough. Amanda shared some of what she'd tackle if she were elected and I'll share some here. She thinks the public, especially candidates, need a full education on public financing can be used. As some other candidates know well, there is no manual on how to run a campaign and how much to pay staff...ahem. Amanda would also like to pay stringent attention to the budget to make sure money is being spent responsibly and things we all want - sidewalks, less potholes, stop signs - are being covered before the City tackles less necessary projects. She'd also like to resurrect the bureau advisory committees; filled with regular citizens who act as our watchdogs.

Amanda had some great ideas about schools and doesn’t have a preference for what bureau she’d like to oversee. “Whatever the four guys don’t want,” she said, since they will have been working together for months before her potential arrival. And what about Amanda’s pesky reputation? She calls herself an advocate for her city. She also argues that no one can get anything done by being negative and antagonistic and she believes that if elected, she’ll work collaboratively with the other commissioners.

But let’s face it, Amanda is the only woman in the race for ANY of City Hall’s elected positions, even if she doesn’t want that spotlighted. Amanda’s most memorable moment from her last race? The time an Oregonian reporter called her “shrill.” I’m going to guess that many men don’t have that adjective used very often for them. In an election year where we’ve been walking the line between sexism and racism constantly, shouldn’t her gender be part of the discussion in our fair city?

Please check out amandafritzforcitycouncil.com for more information.

Republicans running for office in Oregon, in many cases, appear to be wed to one thing: tax cuts. No matter what the problem, tax cuts and spending cuts are their solution.

If only we could drown the gubmint in the bathtub--completely disable it--then all of our problems would be magicially solved.

For some reason, pondering these notions caused this song to scratch out of my head:

Yeah, they've fallen alright. And at least some of them can't get up.

Take Vic Gilliam, for example. At his campaign website, Gilliam has an audio clip--a speech--where he articulates what he wants to do for Oregon:

First we should stand for a deep, game-changing cut in overall state government. A minimum of 10% in the next session.

Okay..10%. The Oregon budget for the 2007-09 biennium is $48 billion. So Gilliam wants to lop $4.8 billion out of the state budget, off the top, at minimum. That's indeed a bold statement. So this speech must include at least an inkling of what Gilliam wants to cut, right?

Nope.

Gilliam falls for the same, tired Republican rhetoric of spending and tax cuts--but hasn't the courage to go into exactly what he'll cut. That would make what he's saying actually real to people. And Gilliam doesn't want to lose his race, so he won't go that far.

The speech continues....

How can citizens trust a state government that willingly wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars to wrench a single deer from a protective family?

Gilliam is referring to Snowball, an injured doe that was found five years ago by a Molalla family. The family kept the doe--which bred--and sired a male which had grown to adulthood. The Dept. of Fish and Wildlife seized both animals, causing a public outcry.

Even if you agree with Gilliam's take on the Snowball story--it seems odd that this would be part of the centerpiece of his campaign. Our state is in an economic downturn, we have hundreds of vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with problems and needs, hundreds of thousands of people in Oregon need access to quality healthcare, etc. And the top priority is the fact that the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife followed their rules?

Not to mention Gilliam's accounting of the costs. In his speech, he claims that the state wasted "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on the removal of the deer. Yet in an LTE to the Statesman Journal, Gilliam's total cited expenditures for the situation total $117,785.

Gilliam's speech continues:

Family and property rights are under a withering attack. They need people absolutely committed to their defense.

Which "family rights" are under attack, exactly? And for that matter, which "property rights" are under attack? Gilliam again lacks specifics. These vague references and boogie man language are little more than scare tactics.

I wonder when the paper of record in the area might actually interview Gilliam and demand an accounting for his budget cuts? When might they ask Gilliam why the Snowball numbers in his web speech don't match those in his LTE? And why the vague, scary language instead of real, proposed solutions?

By Mary Botkin of Portland, Oregon. Mary is a political and union activist.

Like many in the 60's politics for me was a contact sport, filled with confrontation, passion, opinions and activism. As the late 70's and 80's drifted in and the world seemed to be settled into an uneasy but livable peace with relative economic security, politics were more easily relegated to voting only.

Then in the mid 80's I was looking for new employment. I stumbled in to a job with Senator Rod Monroe (during his first tenure in Salem). This is the first encounter I had with David Buchanan - a person who would remain a lifelong friend, contrarian at times and a sometime colleague and always a co-conspirator.

When I first met David we were working on a little initiative for "Public Power". Then as I tried t find my way around the Capitol building in my new job with Senator Monroe I found David in the Bill Room. He literally showed me where all the important things were. The Coffee Shop (down the hall); the bathrooms, the back stair wells (you'll need those to get places in a hurry, when the 'school kids' are in the building); the 'tunnel' for when it is raining, and also gave me my first lessons in "do's and don'ts. The secret ones that no one ever talks about. Warnings about some literally "hands on" legislators to stay a way from and not ride elevators alone with, they are all gone now. Most important was David's abundance of knowledge and ability to of recall obscure facts, information and reference material. Everything from election results to the rules of election engagements. He knew them, he knew where to find them in print and he was willing to share every bit of knowledge he had with all of us.

Last week, I read that my friend David had passed away. I saw him just a week or so ago in a hearing in Salem. We nodded and smiled to each other but were both too busy to speak. It is with regret that I look back on that day, but also a lesson learned. We should never be too busy or too rushed to say hello to a friend old or new. We never know when it may be the last time we will see them.

David, thank you for all the value you brought to the world of politics and for your unrelenting belief that we can and should do better. To your family, I for one want to say thank you for sharing this wonderful man with all of us. He will be missed!

For late July, there sure does seem to be a lot of news happening:

• Covering the State Treasurer race, the Oregonian quotes Ben Westlund -- and he's dead right. Talking about 2001, when the state lost nearly a third of its revenues state revenues dropped precipitously: "What was most illuminating was that it was the very conservative element of the party that had been preaching against government, trashing government, all of a sudden they're the ones who can't vote for these cuts, who can't take these cuts home to their districts," Westlund said.

• The sexual hypnotist is at it again - funneling $175,000 to Kevin Mannix. Apparently, Mannix hasn't told him that he lost (again). Hey, if Loren Parks wants to donate money to guys who aren't even running for office anymore, who am I to argue?

• Oregon lost another great one last week. David Buchanan was a legislative staffer, a DPO volunteer, and the executive director of Common Cause. He will be missed.

• Over at Swing State, they're noting that the fastest-growing states - and thus, states most likely to pick up another electoral vote in 2012 - are all typically GOP states in presidential elections. All of them, that is, except Oregon.

• Per Kagro X, the U.S. Senate is a very weird place where even the space-time continuum doesn't always hold up. Great, great post.

• Gordon Smith may end up relying on the NRSC's deep pockets. Unfortunately, it seems that they flat-out lied about how much money they've got. Meanwhile, the DSCC's independent-expenditure team has started airing a new ad in Oregon.

In a letter to Gordon Smith, Jeff Merkley today accepted debate invitations from five media outlets - and proposed three more debates.

Dear Senator Smith:

Oregonians are struggling with the price of gasoline and an economy that is running on empty. Our troops are returning from Iraq without proper health care, while skyrocketing health care costs trouble us all. Our nation is at a very critical point and democracy demands that we debate solutions to the serious challenges families face.

To that end, my campaign is accepting five debate proposals in Portland and Eugene and proposing additional debates in Bend, Medford, and Pendleton.

The eight debates are:

1. Debate sponsored by KGW NewsChannel 8 and The Oregonian at KGW studios in Portland during the final week of October.

2. Debate sponsored by KATU News and Oregon’s League of Minority Voters at Pacific University on October 5th at 5 p.m.

3. Debate sponsored by Oregon Business and Oregon Public Broadcasting at OPB Studios in early October.

4. Debate at the City Club of Portland on October 17th.

5. Debate sponsored by KEZI Channel 9 at KEZI studios in Eugene on October 9th at 7 p.m.

6. Debate in Pendleton that could be hosted by The East Oregonian and other local organizations.

7. Debate in Medford that could be hosted by The Medford Mail Tribune and other local organizations.

8. Debate in Bend that could be hosted by The Bend Bulletin and other local organizations.

Read the full letter.

Discuss.

Over at PolitickerOR, they've posted their own ranking of the top 50 most powerful hacks, lobbyists, staffers, consultants in Oregon. (They excluded elected officials.)

Lists like this are designed to generate argument and debate. So, let's talk about it.

I'll start: The person ranked #39 absolutely, positively shouldn't be anywhere on this list. I'm sure I can think of at least fifty more people that should be ranked ahead of Mr. 39.

Here's the list. Who did they miss? Discuss.

1.Chip TerhuneKulongoski chief of staff2.Josh KardonWyden chief of staff3.Art TowersSEIU political director4.Mark Nelsonlobbyist5.Kerry TymchuckSmith state director6.Bob Stolldonor, trial lawyer7.Lisa Grovepollster8.Tom ChamberlainAFL-CIO president9.Dan Laveylobbyist, Smith strategist10.BethAnne DarbyOEA political director11.Tim NesbittKulongoski deputy chief12.Larry Campbelllobbyist, former Speaker (R)13.Eric Lemelsonwinemaker, enviro donor14.Mark Wienerpolitical consultant (D)15.Chuck Adamspolitical consultant (R)16.Jordan Schnitzerdonor17.Ryan DeckertOBA president18.Liz Kaufmanpolitical consultant (D)19.Phil Knightdonor20.Len Bergsteinlobbyist21.Connie SeeleySenate Dems chief of staff22.Kristin Leonard & Kevin NeelyC&E Systems23.Tim Phillipspolitical consultant (R)24.Jon IsaacsMerkley campaign manager25.Michael Simonelection lawyer26.Loren Parkssexual hypnotist/donor27.Meredith Wood SmithDPO Chair28.Junki Yoshidadonor29.Steve Novickpolitical consultant (D)30.Bill Sizemoreinitiative racketeer31.Dave Barrowslobbyist32.Gary Conklinglobbyist33.Ken AllenOregon AFSCME, exec. dir.34.Mike Williams & Linda Lovedonor, trial lawyer35.Jeff MapesOregonian reporter36.Amy Langdonpolitical consultant (R)37.Paul Romainlobbyist38.Bob ShiprackBuilding Trades, exec. dir.39.Kari Chisholmpolitical consultant (D)40.Russ WalkerORP vice-chair, FreedomWorks41.Kevin LooperOur Oregon, exec. dir.42.Peter BragdonColumbia Sportswear VP43.Alan Tresidderlobbyist44.Debi Colemandonor45.Trent LutzDPO exec. dir.46.Vance DayORP chair47.Beth BernardOregon Trial Lawyers exec. dir.48.Andrew OverORP exec. dir.49.John DiLorenzolobbyist50.Stacey Dycuspolitical consultant (D)

Head on over to Politicker for full write-ups and photos.

About halfway through Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, I was pretty sure I was going to write a post about what a creepily close allegory it was to the state of the world in 2008.  Consider the set-up: a lunatic (the Joker) is on the loose and he's bent on upsetting established order on both sides of the law.  His strength is that he only wishes to create chaos and sew fear; power and money mean nothing to him.  Sound like any bearded cave-dweller you know?  The allegory grows richer.  As the forces of good try to contain the Joker's mayhem, a familiar debate emerges: is it permissible to bend the rules just a bit to contain this evil, or must good always be good?  Batman stands as rule-bending America, prepared to put the hurt on terrorists to re-establish order.  But he recognizes that darkness may beget only darkness.  The dark knight isn't sure how to turn on the lights.

Turns out it's not finally allegorical.  The plot of Gotham's war on the Joker deviates about three-quarters of the way through from the US's war on terror.  But the resonances are profound.  I don't want to give away major plot points--the movie's the most satisfying blockbuster since T2, and even liberal elites should put down their offensive New Yorker's long enough to catch a matinee--but the movie is a meditation on the effort of a population to save its collective soul in the midst of chaos and war.

Art always reflects society, intentionally or not.  In the past few years, we've seen a number of documentaries about the war on terror and Iraq, and even a couple movies that overtly addressed it.  But sometimes, it's the movies that don't even intend to comment on these themes that offer the sharpest critiques.  Torture is now a part our our consciousness.  Our society has passed from the pre-Bush naivete of thinking Americans couldn't torture, to a morally-unconflicted embrace of anything that would keep us safe, to 2008, when we're not sure that what we lose by torturing is worth what we get.  Torture has slid into that uncomfortable, murky place politicians fear.  Art, on the other hand, lives in those dark corners and keeps making us think.

This is not a movie about easy choices.  Contrast that with the administration of George W. Bush, which has been built on the fools-gold of easy choices.  Bush said heroism was easy, war was easy.  He said any action is better than the inaction of consideration. The consequences of this childish view have delivered us to our present murkiness.  Like Batman, we're no longer so certain if we're the hero or the villian. But outcome of the Dark Knight is simultaneously darker, more knowing, and weirdly, more hopeful than where the US has ended up.  I won't give it away, but go have a look.  It's a fascinating comment on our current predicament.  If our leaders won't have us consider these disturbing things, leave it to the artists.

Having returned to Oregon after four days of Netroots Nation-ing in Texas, I'm glad to be back to the temperate climate and proper coffee. I'm not a hothouse flower and I didn't care much for the morning brew they swill.

Even without the comforts of home, I found the experience most worthwhile. The panel discussions were excellent and the networking opportunities were bountiful. I was able to reconnect with dear friends, too--finding myself up until the wee hours of the morning wrapped up in giddy laughter with some of my favorite people.

And this year, Netroots Nation afforded me the opportunity to spend a great deal of time with Darcy Burner, candidate for Congress from Washington's 8th Congressional District.

A few of my very good blog friends from the Seattle area are friendly with Darcy. Hanging out with them meant attending several events as part of the Darcy "posse". Given her status within the netroots community--it was a little like being in the eye of the storm. As we'd walk down the hall on the way to an event, you could see people pointing with hushed whispers saying,"There's Darcy Burner!" It was sort of like being with a small-scale rock entourage. Not that I've ever been with a rock entourage, you understand. But its not that far off from my imagination's conjourings.

Darcy is the netroots rock star: smart, wonky, techy and approachable. I observed an unwavering patience with her very devoted fans who were a constant presence. The same questions were asked of her over and over again which she answered every time with a grace and even manner that I'm certain I don't possess. Bloggers can be a whacky, sometimes fringy bunch. But she hugged and smiled and thanked each individual, appearing to make them feel special and personally recognized.

Being a politician is a grueling, difficult job under the best of circumstances. The scrutiny surrounding a candidate is insanely ridiculous--I can't imagine the stress of having to live one's life under that microscope. Darcy has taken on a special challenge: running in a district that has never voted for a Democrat for Congress. This is a woman willing to traverse the road less traveled.

Lately, Darcy's had it tougher than most: her Seattle-area home recently burned to the ground.

Yet she remains on the surface a woman with a steely resolve that appears conjoined with a zen-like quality.

As I watched her speak to both large and small crowds about the issues of the day (most noteably the war in Iraq and the economy), her very feminine gestures and voice mix with the harsh rhetorical flourishes of a citizen angry at the direction her country has taken. Her sound never moves with an edge--but the words themselves are a blade--cutting up the policies of the Bush Administration (and her Republican opponent, Dave Reichert) with precision.

As I listened, I pondered the notion of how difficult it is to be a woman in politics. It definitely feels to me like a mostly male endeavor. Expectations for a woman often seem to be contradictory: be feminine but kick the asses of the bad guys. Use tough rhetoric--but not so tough as to be bitchy--or so nonbitchy as to seem unable to kick the asses of the bad guys. Be smart but stay off your high horse.

And then there's the people who have a general dislike of the idea of women being in leadership positions or places of authority. Yeah--it happens even among groups of progressives. In some quarters we still have a ways to go before the feminine gender rises to the same perceptive equality as our male counterparts.

Darcy just dives right into that fray where I don't think I could tread.

She seems unmoved by those who work to place such roadblocks in her path. Her focus doesn't appear to waver and she maintains a resolve, at least on the surface, of a leader who is ready to accept the challenge of rebuilding our nation. She speaks about the job of the Congresswoman she hopes to be with reverence and excitement in clipped sentences and with small, feminine hand gestures.

I've heard that some find her cold and too well-rehearsed..lacking a genuine quality. I suppose I could see how a very cursory and ultra-surface glance at Burner could engender such a response. But that's not the woman who sat across the table from me Friday night--sipping a margarita and opining about parenting. Nor is it the candidate I saw with a group of DFA folks speaking passionately about turning our country around.

Its also not the woman that so many of my good friends describe to me when they talk of their devotion to her candidacy.

I don't know if Darcy's tether with the netroots community will be what finally gives that district Democratic representation. The newspapers in the region seem to view the situation with a jaundiced eye (sound familiar?). I'd love to see her win and not just for the sake of the country.

I think it would be amazing to see her stick it to the jackasses who've thought otherwise and acted accordingly.

Which may also go a long way to explaining my support of Jeff Merkley, too. But that's a story for a different day.

The Oregonian came out this morning for a repeal of "don’t ask don’t tell," calling for the full and open ability for gays and lesbians to serve in the military. Noting that acceptance of gays in the military is now at 75%, they are asking what is taking so long. I have only one question for the Oregonian: what took you so long?

In 1995, I was elected to the Portland School Board. Two months later, the Board passed my proposal to ban military recruiters from PPS schools because of "don’t ask, don’t tell." The action had nothing to do with personal sentiments about war or the military – it would not have been my place to tell students what politics to adopt. It was, strictly speaking, a matter of barring an employer that discriminated from using our District to further its discriminatory hiring practices. Our Board believed that if you want to hire any of our students, you have to be willing to hire every one of our students who meet the job’s qualifications.

The outcry was immediate – from the Oregonian. Over the next several years, they editorialized no fewer than four times against the ban. They argued that this was federal policy we had no right to resist, even though it clearly was the District’s legal right to bar recruiters (no law suit was ever filed), and I seriously doubt there would have been an outcry had a private sector company that openly discriminated been barred. What the Oregonian never mentioned was that the editorial page editor’s brother was the chief of the Oregon National Guard in those years – a personal if not technical conflict that should have been disclosed. (PPS repealed the ban as to the Guard in 1999 after being presented with evidence that they were openly allowing gays to serve despite don’t ask don’t tell)

The PPS ban lasted eight years. Ultimately, a reactionary "family values" congressman from Louisiana, David Vitter (yes, that David Vitter, now a Senator and apparent user of call girls) attached an amendment to No Child Left Behind that stripped any school district of all its federal funds if they did not let in recruiters. Faced with almost seventy million per year of blackmail, PPS had little choice but to repeal the ban.

I never fooled myself that there was much chance the ban was going to change military policy, but I did feel it was our important statement to our gay students that we supported them. Now the Oregonian, belatedly agrees. Why? For no more compelling reason than that the polls now favor gays in the military. Sorry, but when discrimination is wrong, you don’t wait for the polls. Apparently, the Big O is willing to call for policy changes, but not to support those who want to do anything about immoral policies. And even when they do support change, it isn’t until three out of four people already agree with them. In that, they are like Gilbert & Sullivan’s Duke of Plaza-Toro:

"In enterprise of martial kind, When there was any fighting, He led his regiment from behind (He found it less exciting). But when away his regiment ran, His place was at the fore, O- That celebrated, Cultivated, Underrated Nobleman, The Duke of Plaza-Toro!"

I appreciate that the Oregonian has finally gotten to a position supported by Portlanders a decade and a half ago, but it’s a bit little and it’s a lot late. Thanks for the "leadership," Big O!

Well, Jeff Duyck declined to resign the GOP nomination in HD29 - and now the Secretary of State has booted him from the ballot. From the O:

State officials stripped legislative candidate Jeff Duyck of his Republican nomination for November's election on Monday, giving the party more than a month to find a replacement. ... Duyck said Monday that he didn't withdraw his candidacy because "I didn't want to give them the satisfaction."

And as I predicted, he says he'll be suing Washington County for the money he spent on the campaign - after they OK'd his candidacy at the front end. As I've said, this totally sucks for Duyck - but the census data is crystal clear (and available online).

Last week, the Republican leader - Rep. Bruce Hanna - called for an emergency special session to redraw the lines.

Let's ponder that for a minute.

#1. Even if the lines are redrawn, Jeff Duyck still doesn't satisfy the Constitutional requirement. The Lege might be able to put him in HD29 right now, but he needs a full year before the election. (Unless Bruce Hanna thinks the Lege has a magic time machine handy.)

#2. Even if the Lege thought they could somehow retroactively redraw the lines, they'd almost certainly be in violation of the Oregon Constitution -- since Article IV, Section 6 clearly tells us when the line-drawing has to happen.

At the regular session of the Legislative Assembly next following an enumeration of the inhabitants by the United States Government...

#3. And besides, do we really want to set a precedent that it's OK to redistrict in the middle of a decade? Do we really want to mess around like Texas?

#4. And on top of all that? If the Lege were to redraw even one line, then - by the "one person, one vote" principle in the U.S. Constitution - we'd have to make sure that HD26 and HD 29 each had exactly 1/60th of the state's population... which almost certainly would mean redrawing all the lines of all sixty House districts (and consequently, all thirty Senate districts.)

In other words, Bruce Hanna has no idea what he's talking about.

There's another fun wrinkle to the story. On Friday, right-wing babbler Lars Larson - the mighty, mighty Lars Larson - tried to foment some outrage about all this. He ranted and raved and exhorted his callers to call the Speaker's Office to demand a special session, to demand that Jeff Duyck be allowed to run.

I figured the good folks in the Speakers' Office probably had a pretty tough day. So, I thought I'd check in. Did Lars make life hard on Friday?, I asked. Must have been rough, I said.

Yeah, they said, the phone rang crazy off the hook. For about five minutes.

That's right: The mighty, mighty Lars Larson - in full outrage - managed to exhort exactly six people to call in.

Oops.

Seems Lars is a bit like Glendower in Shakespeare's Henry the Fourth.

Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?

Sorry, Lars. Sucks to be you.

One last thing: Just when you thought this crazy tale was over, there's one final plot twist to the story. On the jump...

On Monday, over in HD 26 -- the district where Duyck really does live -- Rep. Jerry Krummel resigned to take a job in Nevada.

He'd already declined to run for re-election - setting up a fall campaign between Matt Wingard (R-Screwdriver) and Jessica Adamson, the Democrat.

But now that Krummel is gone, Republicans will get a chance to appoint someone to the seat. Will they boost Matt Wingard and make him an insta-incumbent? Or will they select another resident of HD 26... Jeff Duyck?

The GOP precinct committee people of HD 26 will have to select three to five candidates - and forward their names to the County Commission. And don't forget, his cousin Andy Duyck is already a member of the Washington County Commission.

Seems to me that if Duyck wants it, it's his. Among Republicans, he's surely earned plenty of good will and I'm certain he's got a better relationship with his cousin's colleagues than Mr. Screwdriver does. And we already know that Wingard has a special talent for dividing Republicans into warring camps.

Stay tuned. The soap opera continues.

In a letter to the editor at the Oregonian, Rick Seaman of Portland reminds Gordon Smith where his mega-wealth came from:

More pertinent to the Senate campaign is not that Gordon Smith was born into money, but that he does not acknowledge how the public helped enable his family's wealth.

When he characterizes Democrats as "socialists" and calls a lie "the notion that the public sector creates jobs," he is either ignorant of or deliberately blind to Democratic government programs that helped his family build a successful frozen-food business.

The Bonneville Power Administration, created by Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s, built the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams, bringing power for irrigation to previously arid farmlands, allowing vegetable farming.

The Rural Electrification Administration brought the BPA's cheap electricity to eastern Oregon, enabling refrigeration plants to be located near the farms. Democratic Congresses in the 1950s and '60s funded the Interstate Highway System, with Interstate 84 allowing Smith Frozen Foods faster access to markets across the country.

The fact is, public investments in infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams, ports) and education are the world's greatest generators of private wealth. Democratic candidate Jeff Merkley knows this.

Merkley is interested in a government that helps create opportunities for Americans.

Discuss.

So says T. Boone Pickens in his new TV ad.

Find more videos like this on PickensPlan

I just saw this ad on TV (KGW 8) and am intrigued by it.

What do you think of it? Have you joined the Pickens Plan Army yet?

Do you plan to? If so, what are your primary reasons?

Here's Pickens' Plan. The gist of it appears to be that he wants America to do as he has personally done and invest heavily in wind power. That will, in his view, free up more domestically produced Natural Gas to be converted to vehicular fuel - and thus reducing the vast transfer of wealth which his ad expresses alarm over.

The plan makes a certain amount of sense at first glance. But some environmentalists have urged caution over the ecological damage of large-scale windfarms on a large enough scale to make a serious dent. However, that's on the premise that the point is to replace petroleum fuels. Pickens isn't necessarily trying to replace petroleum fuels per se, he just wants reduce our collective reliance upon foreign sources of them, and in particular upon crude oil which places America at it's greatest disadvantage... apparently. That his windfarms would reduce our use of petro sources seems to be icing rather than the cake, from his point of view.

I'm honestly unsure what to think of this. At first whiff it seems good. But the effects of Global Warming seem to me to warrant at least a cautious attitude towards a plan that is so obviously motivated by $$$ first and foremost. Plus... I'm personally not convinced that wind power offers as much as geothermal power does.

Update: I just watched Al Gore on Meet The Press say that he welcomes Pickens' Plan. Tom Brokaw read a statement by Pickens arguing that his plan and Gore's plan should be viewed differently. But Gore certainly seemed happy to have them considered together and as similar. His primary, albeit very gently articulated, criticism of Pickens' Plan is that Gore sees natural gas as an intermediate measure and he said that it makes more sense to him to cut to the chase rather than focus on an intermediate step as Pickens has.

The folks at Talking Points Memo have traveled to Austin to cover Netroots Nation, and one of the first interviews they've conducted is with Jeff Merkley.  It's a fairly extensive discussion, ranging from Smith's recent failed TV blitz, Merkley's lead in the polls, Barack Obama, the primary with Steve Novick, the current ads by the DPO, the politics of Oregon, and more.  Have a look:

Discuss.

On July 23rd join us in welcoming the Bush Legacy Bus Tour @ Waterfront Park at Yamhill & Taylor from Noon-2:00PM. This 28-ton rolling reminiscence on just how awful this administration has been.

Think you know how bad the last eight years have been? The Bush Legacy Bus is a unique, interactive museum on wheels that neatly encapsulates the now-discredited Conservative ideology of President Bush and his allies. Through video, guide-by-cell-technology, artifacts and more, this bus makes clear the failure of the Bush Administration were not his alone.

Oregon Action along with many other community leaders will be hosting the bus at Yamhill and Taylor on July 23, 2008 and again at the state Capitol Mall in Salem on July 24, 2008 from 10:00AM-Noon.

So Austin, Texas is hot. And I don't mean that hot in the kind of way that draws you in and makes you want to linger and enjoy it. Its hot in that wet, heavy, sticky, sultry kind of heat that takes your breath away. I think those of us from the Pacific Northwest are especially susceptible to that kind of heat blast. Our temperate climate spoils us for the rest of the world's weather extremes.

Nevertheless, I'm having a really wonderful time...and soaking up a good deal of information and ambience. I even rode down the elevator this morning with "Kos" himself. Yes, I'm a hob-knobber. Or at least I told myself that for the 4 minutes that I stood next to a very sleepy looking Markos as we made small talk.

Kari already made mention of Jeff Merkley's presence at the premier conference for political bloggers. Jeff managed to create a very good buzz for himself among the attendees, especially this morning as a panelist on a discussion of smart energy issues.

That's Jeff of course, speaking on the great things we've done in Oregon on renewable and alternative energy--as well as his views as a progressive on renewable and alternative energies. The panel was extremely well attended. Based on the buzz I heard (and the rush of people who wanted to meet Jeff and shake his hand afterward), it was a tremendous success.

In news of the weird and interesting here at NN's Exhibition Hall, the folks at ActBlue had a big surprise today. The Clackamas County Democrats are #4 on the hot list pages at their site - right after Chris Dodd, Wes Clark, and Rick Noriega. (Click on the picture below to enlarge)

It looks to be money that will go toward maintenance of the party headquarters in Oregon City.

Its a great demonstration of how small organizations can find themselves right there with the big raisers on the premier place for Democratic fundraising online.