Rick Metsger comes in second

The Independent Party of Oregon, the state's third largest political party, has endorsed State Senator Vicki Walker in the Democratic Primary race for Secretary of State.

The endorsement was based on their records and the May 3 debate among the 3 Democratic candidates, hosted by the Democracy Action Group of the First Unitarian Church and the Alliance for Democracy, where the candidates answered detailed questions posed by Oregon activists very involved in election issues.

The three candidates for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State had a very detailed and spirited debate at the First Unitarian Church on May 3. Video of the debate is available at the Oregon Voter Rights Coalition. That coalition has now endorsed Vicki Walker. At the debate (an in prior debates) she forcefully took positions that are consistent with the principles of the IPO, including the absolute need for limits on political campaign contributions in Oregon races (which currently have none).

Frohnmayer adds new dimension to U.S. Senate candidate forum

Posted by Harry Esteve
April 30, 2008

It wasn't much of a crowd at today's U.S. Senate candidate forum, but those who attended got a glimpse of the future of the race -- the third-party bid by John Frohnmayer.

Steve Novick is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Oregon who has so far won every poll over his opponents in the Democratic primary. In the most recent poll, SurveyUSA found Novick beating the candidate funded by the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Jeff Merkley, by 23 to 11 percent, with 12 percent captured by previously-unknown peace activist Candy Neville and 40 percent undecided.

Novick is apparently not very impressed by his Democratic colleagues. The Oregonian article below does not really capture the content of Novick's comments. Here is a verbatim transcript of the Willamette Week joint interview of the 4 candidates for the Democratic nomination:

Trio of Senate candidates find lots to agree on

By Bob Albrecht
April 3, 2008

The tone was mostly cordial Wednesday night when three candidates for the U.S. Senate debated before about 100 students at the University of Oregon School of Law.

Minor parties, nonaffiliated voters to play larger role in future elections nonaffiliated and minor party voters may determine who wins in Oregon

By Mark Brown
March 28, 2008

Although Oregon’s political leanings haven’t made a major shift in the past four years, a small gust of party-affiliation change has blown across the state.

A decline in the overall percentage of voters registered as Republicans in the state over a four-year span has been nearly equaled by an increase in the percentage of Oregonians registered as nonaffiliated and minor party voters.

Willamette Week writes on March 27, 2008:

But Independent candidate John Frohnmayer has the support of Funk Shui—and all the other 675 members of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 99 (a union that includes Storm Large.)

Bruce Fife, the local's president, says the decision to endorse Frohnmayer reflects musicians' distaste for typical party politics. "They're mad at the Democrats," Fife says. (Meanwhile, they didn't have an official chance to be mad at the Republicans, or, more specifically, one money-bags Republican; U.S. Senate Gordon Smith (R-Ore), whose seat is up for grabs, declined an interview with the local.)

John Henry Bourke, a guitarist with Funk Shui, said Frohnmayer's experience with the National Endowment for the Arts during the first Bush administration swayed him. "He has such a specific orientation to the arts," Bourke says. "He seemed most in tune with helping artists and musicians."

The Portland Tribune in GOP Skips Many Portland House Races notes how Oregon lacks competition in a great number of races for the Oregon Legislature. This year, there are no Republican candidates in 18 House races and no Democratic candidates in 6 House races. So 24 of the 60 races are not contested by the other major party. The Tribune fails to note that 8 of the 15 Oregon Senate races are also not contested. Nor does the Tribune even attempt to determine why this is happening. Gerrymandering, anyone?

As noted on the John Frohnmayer Blog:

Members at a very well-attended membership meeting on Monday, March 17, voted overwhelmingly to endorse the candidacy of John Frohnmayer for US Senate. The endorsement came at the end of a long evening at which Frohnmayer, an Independent, and Democrats Steve Novick and Jeff Merkley each pitched the members for their support.