GOP maverick has own approach: I Like Ike

by David Sarasohn
August 07, 2008

Joel Haugen supports Barack Obama for president and Jeff Merkley for the U.S. Senate, backs gay marriage and strongly opposes the Iraq war.

He's also the Republican nominee for the House of Representatives in the 1st District, against Rep. David Wu.

As you might expect, this involves a certain awkwardness.

Oregon Congress Candidate Drops GOP Ballot Label August 29, 2008 By BRAD CAIN The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Congressional contender Joel Haugen, who angered Republicans by endorsing Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, is withdrawing as a GOP candidate and will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot under the label of the Independent Party.

Haugen won the Republican nomination in the May primary in northwest Oregon's 1st Congressional District.

But since then party members have shunned him because of his support for Obama and his endorsement of Democrat Jeff Merkley in Oregon's U.S. Senate race.

At a news conference Friday, Haugen said it makes sense for him to run as the Independent Party candidate, since that party earlier backed him.

"My message in this is: Let's get away from this partisan silliness and partisan nonsense and make decisions based on what's best for your country and your state," the 58-year-old Scappoose businessman said.

Independent Party goes to court to win ballot fight

Posted by Jeff Mapes
August 12, 2008 18:18PM

The fledgling Independent Party on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Marion County seeking to force the Oregon secretary of state to allow candidates to list more than one party nomination on the ballot.

Yes, I know, that top sentence makes you go, "huh?" Bear with me a moment.

The Independent Party is now the third-largest party in Oregon, although with 21,000 registrants it is still tiny compared to the 879,000 registered Democrats and 672,000 Republicans in the state.

In all elections, members of the Independent Party of Oregon (IPO) get the same ballot as every other voter in Oregon, with this exception:

In the May primary election in even-numbered years, all registered voters receive the regular nonpartisan ballot, which contains all ballot measures and all contests for public office that are not run on a "partisan" (by party) basis.