Originally published in The Oregonian — May 17, 2012 – Primary 2012 aftermath: Lawyers and judges steal the show this election You know it’s an unusual election when the most interesting statewide races are those in which only lawyers and judges are running. Despite indications from a recent SurveyUSA poll, the magnitude of Ellen Rosenblum’s [...]
Clackamas County Electoral Challenges Mirror Dynamic of National Election — From the May Northwest Connection There was a time, back before the Great Recession, when adherents of a green, “sustainable,” and quasi-Socialist environmental agenda made significant inroads into Clackamas County. Small groups of conservative watchdogs, like the members of Americans for Prosperity Clackamas and [...]
“If you struck from Barack Obama’s vocabulary the first-person singular pronoun, he would fall silent, which would be a mercy to us and a service to him, actually,” Will continued. “Because he was been so incontinent for the last three years that you wind up with, as you said, [an] Ohio State University with empty [...]
First Elizabeth Warren (candidate for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts) claimed to be a Native American (when it would advance her career). Now she claims that calling her on it is sexism. Read Seth Mandel’s commentary in Commentary.
In his regular Oregonian column today, Jack Roberts speculates about the possibility that President Obama will abandon Vice President Obama as his running mate this time around. Roberts says that Biden’s opposition to the mission to kill Osama bin Laden makes his less viable given the Obama campaign’s suggestion that presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney [...]
Originally published in The Oregonian — April 19, 2012 — Oregon Supreme Court race provides intriguing primary candidates – With the Republican presidential nomination apparently decided and only Democrats having any candidates for Oregon attorney general, not to mention the labor commissioner race being bumped to November, the major choices left for all statewide voters [...]
“The Pew Center on the States issued a report in February titled “Inaccurate, Costly and Inefficient,” which found about 24 million voter registrations, or 13 percent of the nation’s total, are invalid or contain major inaccuracies. As many as 2.75 million persons are registered in more than one state, and 1.8 million deceased individuals are [...]
Originally published in The Oregonian — April 12, 2012 – Generous backers dwarf community funding as Mary Nolan takes on Amanda Fritz for Portland City Council – It seems clear that the Democratic Party establishment is intent on replacing Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz. They have recruited a candidate, state Rep. Mary Nolan, and have [...]
Writing in The American Spectator. R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. says a lack of news about the Tea Party does not mean the party is over. To the contrary, according to Tyrell, the movement has shifted from mass demonstration to local organization and getting people elected. But their reform agenda remains the same: “balance budgets, eliminate [...]
Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Strassel counters the Democratic suggestion that Republicans will suffer from a Supreme Court invalidation of Obamacare. The key, says Strassel, is for Republicans to keep the issue alive through the election.
Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan has some advice for the presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney: “Here’s something Americans intuit about motivations in presidential politics. When a candidate is on a mission to rescue the country, they can tell. When it’s about the nation and not him, they can tell. When he has [...]
Originally published in The Oregonian — 03-23-12 — Did Kate Brown mishandle the labor commissioner election decision? Knute Buehler, the lone Republican candidate for secretary of state, just got a significant in-kind contribution from an unlikely source — his opponent, Secretary of State Kate Brown. Generally, the job of secretary of state is so nondescript [...]
The Daily Caller reports today on a Virginia middle school teacher’s assignment requiring students to research Republican presidential candidate weaknesses and report their findings to the Obama campaign. Read the story here.
Democrat Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and his challenger Republican Senator Bruce Starr learned last Friday that the election they thought was to take place in May is now scheduled for November. Both had campaigned for months on the assumption that the election would be in May. Now they must figure out how to finance a [...]
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Alan Blinder explains how the United States government will reach a fiscal cliff on January 1, 2013, and why nothing will be done to avoid it beyond kicking the can down the road another few months. Nothing will be done between now and November because of the pending election, and [...]
It seems unlikely, but according to Michael Barone it could happen. Barone does not speak specifically to Oregon, but he does describe past changes in what we come to view as permanently red and blue states. Read more here in The American.
Originally published in The Oregonian — 3/8/12 – With no governor or U.S. Senate race on the Oregon ballot this year, can voter interest be stirred by the four intermediate nonjudicial statewide offices that are up for grabs? History suggests not, but at least two of those races deserve special attention, particularly since they should [...]
Reacting to David Brooks column in today’s New York Times ["The Possum Republicans" here], Jonathan Tobin, writing for Commentary, argues that Republicans need neither possums nor RINOs. According to Tobin, the GOP needs leaders who believe in and explain the conservative philosophy, and who can govern. He’s doubtful that either Romney or Santorum fill the [...]
