2008 election

Sometimes the truth in humor hurts more than the pain in my side from laughing.

We all know about Gordon Smith and how he tries to make himself look like a Democrat. He's careful to never list himself as a Republican on his web site. He likes to tout in ads how Democrats support him, how he supports progressive issues like ending the war in Iraq and opposing drilling in the Arctic. He tries to make it appear that he's an independent voter who doesn't follow his party lines. But his new ad goes even further.

In his newest ad, he is aligning with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

From the Associated Press:

Republicans go after Barack Obama in their political advertising, but GOP Senator Gordon Smith aligns himself with the Democratic presidential candidate in a new ad, citing work they both did to improve fuel efficiency standards.

...

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As I was telling people at Saturday's Oregon State Delegate Convention, my daughter Abby watched MSNBC with me the night that U.S. Senator Barack Obama clinched the nomination. She watched with me for hours as they counted down how many delegates Obama still needed.

She'd get very excited every time his number went down, jumping up and down and saying "Mommy! Mommy! Obama only needs 6 more!"

When he hit 0, she bounced all over the room yelling "Obama won! Obama won!" Even funnier, when McCain came on to do his speech, she turns to me (hands on her hips) and says "Mommy! Why does he get to speak - he didn't win?"

I'd imagine some people would think this is just my political activism rubbing off on Abby. But actually, it's more than that.

Measure 53 was approved in the May Primary by a margin of 550 out of 978,634 votes; that's less than 0.06% of the total. The Director of Elections has filed an Official Notice of Automatic Recount. Their schedule has all counties finishing the recount by June 26th.

Measure 53 is the latest installment in the continuing saga of civil forfeiture law since the passage of Ballot Measure 3, The Oregon Property Protection Act in 2000. It was originally done with good intent, in response to reports of law enforcement agencies that abused their power of forfeiture as a cash cow. Although Oregon agencies were not accused of particular abuses, the capacity was demonstrated and the temptation to preferentially pursue lucrative prosecutions exists because of human nature. We have the right to require a high standard of fairness from law enforcement agencies.

The Progressive Patriots Fund is holding a poll to see which of several candidates who are taking on Republican U.S. Senators around the country. The winner of that poll will receive $5,000 from the Fund, of which Russ Feingold is the Honorary Chair.

With all the commercials and such that Gordon Smith is running, Merkley could really use these funds for his campaign. Not only that, but he's doing something I haven't seen a candidate do in a long time - he's going around the state and visiting 100 towns, many of which never get candidates for these offices visiting. And when they do visit, it's typically just for a fundraiser. Merkley's not out there to raise funds - he's out there speaking with people in these towns to hear about their issues and to tell them about what he wants to accomplish in the U.S. Senate.

I went to his event in Troutdale on Sunday (which will hopefully soon be featured on Blue Oregon) and it was great to see so many people coming out to talk with Merkley about the issues they held dear.

Merkley is the most progressive person on that list and has shown it time and time again in his work in the state legislature, the issues he has fought for, and the work he has done in his professional life. Join me in helping bring Merkley $5,000 to defeat Gordon Smith this fall.

Over the past few weeks, FOX News has shown its true side through comments and graphics used on the air. We've all known for some time that they were biased, but lately they've taken that to a new low.

The most recent comments, which are some of the worst thus far, began on May 25 when Fox contributor Liz Trotta joked about U.S. Senator Barack Obama and assassinations.

From the Associated Press:

Trotta's assassination joke came May 25 as she commented about how some considered it distasteful for Clinton to refer to Robert F. Kennedy's assassination when explaining why she was staying in the presidential race.

"Now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama," she said, quickly correcting herself. "Obama. Well, both if we could."

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Today is election certification day, which means that the "abstracts" for the primary election are now available. These are the numbers that show precinct by precinct how many votes came in for each race, what the turnout was, etc. It's also when you can find out if you were elected as a Precinct Committee Person (PCP) and what the write-ins were for positions in which no one filed.

It was no surprise that I was re-elected as a PCP today - I was the only name on the ballot, and with three votes in my household there was already more than enough to get elected. I ended up with more than 180 votes. We also elected a male PCP through write-in (he received more than the 3 necessary votes). Numerous other people received only one vote, and I plan on contacting them to find out if they'd like to be appointed to a PCP position - there are still numerous available.

As soon as the abstracts became available for Multnomah County, I immediately downloaded the numbers and began preparing them for importing into Excel. I've been keeping track of numbers since the 2002 primary, which allows me to compare turnout, spot trends in voting, etc. I also looked at the write-in numbers for positions where there was no candidate filed. There were rumors about the Republicans trying to get candidates on the November ballot via write-in, and I know that was the case here in my State Senate district since we'd received a letter and post card from the Oregon Republican Party encouraging such a write-in on the ballot.

It's always funny to look through the write-ins. Often times you'll find a number of Republicans who have written in the name of the Democratic incumbent. Sometimes you'll even find they've written in a Democratic candidate's name. In looking through the write-ins for Multnomah County, I had some pretty big laughs: