BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- Just a day after Congressman David Wu released his first campaign ad about his opponent Rob Cornilles, Cornilles put up an ad of his own attacking Wu.

The ad hits on the unemployment rate in Oregon being above the national average since Wu took office in 1999, as well as his votes on the federal stimulus, “government health care,” and the “Wall Street bailout.”

Along with an image of The Oregonian’s endorsement of Cornilles in the 2010 election cycle, Cornilles says, “Let’s create some jobs by changing Congress.”

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9bnMR4yDKQ

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- In his first TV ad of the campaign season, Democratic Congressman David Wu called out his GOP opponent Rob Cornilles for having “one bad idea after another.”

These “bad ideas” mentioned in the ad included supporting “tax cuts for the wealthy” while not supporting an end to tax breaks for jobs sent overseas.

“I’m David Wu and I’m working in Congress so people with good ideas can grow and expand their businesses,” said Wu at the end of the advertisement. “It’s why the tax breaks I passed tax help entrepreneurs create high-tech jobs.  I approved this message because we need more of these kinds of jobs in Oregon.”

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMneXZbRoC4

BY THE OREGON POLITICO

PORTLAND- We sat down with House Republican candidate Katie Eyre Brewer to discuss her positions on environment, education, and budget policy.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QNOePp4X5Y

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- Nearly three weeks after the release of the last Chris Dudley advertisement attacking John Kitzhaber’s record as governor, the Kitzhaber campaign released their own ad on Thursday bringing into question Dudley’s experience for the job.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz1UxwBiwA0

Shortly following the release of this advertisement, the Dudley campaign sent out this web video response.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p44q6HXArY0

BY SARAH ROSS

State Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend

PORTLAND- With just under three months until November’s general election, candidates in Oregon’s race for State Treasurer have been working tirelessly to build their campaign war chests.

Republican candidate State Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend, has raised just over $23,500 in 2010. One of her more recent contributions has come from the wood producer Interfor, who gave $500 to Telfer’s campaign.

Bend radio “Money Talk” show host Bill Valentine, who also owns a wealth management firm in Bend, gave $2,500 to Telfer’s campaign in April, which has been one of the largest contributions she has received in several months.

The man currently holding the position of State Treasurer, Democrat candidate Ted Wheeler, has brought in nearly $288,000 in 2010.

Wheeler has gained contributions from some of the larger businesses around Portland, including $2,500 donations from Nike and Regence BlueCross BlueShield and $3,000 from Schnitzer Steel Industries and the media measurement and research company Rentrak.

Other notable donations include two of the biggest checks Wheeler received, written by the local ASFME public employee union, which totaled $9,000.

Wheeler also received $1,000 from former GOP gubernatorial candidate Ron Saxton and the current Attorney General John Kroger.

In June, Telfer also received $250 from the Health Center Political Action committee, while in May she received $2,000 from the energy company PacifiCorp and $500 donations from the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp and T-Mobile USA.

Like Telfer, Wheeler was also given a $2,000 check from PacifiCorp.

State Treasurer Ted Wheeler

On the Political Action Committee side, the United Transportation Union gave Wheeler $600, Teachers Voice in Politics gave $1,000, the Oregon Education Association gave $50,000 in in-kind contributions, and the SEIU’s PAC Citizens Action for Political Education gave a $20,000 in-kind contribution and a $10,000 cash contribution.

For full listings of campaign contributions click the respective links:

Chris Telfer

Ted Wheeler

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- In Portland’s Director Park on Friday morning, media mogul Steve Forbes announced his support for Senatorial candidate Jim Huffman.

Huffman, running as the Republican candidate against incumbent Ron Wyden, welcomed support from Forbes, calling it a “boost” to the campaign.

Huffman’s wife Leslie was formerly employed as an editor at Forbes magazine, which Huffman said likely helped him in getting the endorsement.

Forbes, however, stated that Huffman is an ideal candidate, being a citizen who came out of the woodwork due to concern for the country.

A small group of protesters dressed in cocktail dresses and three-piece suits cheered on the announcement, saying Huffman will help to save jobs for billionaires if put into office.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5xoeU7xcWI

BY SARAH ROSS

Image via johnkitzhaber.com

PORTLAND- The John Kitzhaber campaign announced Thursday that Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire will be hosting a fundraiser next Thursday for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

The campaign is calling the event a “unique opportunity to meet two western governors that share the same core Democratic values, whose states face similar obstacles and opportunities.”

Taking place on August 11 at NW 11^th and Glisan in Portland’s Pearl District, the campaign is asking for a $100 donation from each guest in attendance.

“Like John, Governor Gregoire is a champion of middle class job creation, healthcare accessibility and environmental stewardship,” wrote Kitzhaber’s Finance Director, Leah Barbaree, in the event invitation. “Both share a lifelong commitment to their home state and recognize the need to build consensus as a community in order to meet the challenges that lay ahead.”

BY SARAH ROSS

Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber and former Sec. of State Bill Bradbury

PORTLAND- More than 2,000 Oregonians registered with Oregon’s Independent Party participated in the party’s primary race which finalized its results on Friday evening.

The primary, which was the first binding statewide online primary election in the country, picked a unique mesh of candidates including John Kitzhaber, Democratic candidate running for Governor, as well as Republican candidates Scott Bruun, candidate for the 5^th Congressional district and Art Robinson of the 4th Congressional district.

“If you look at the candidates who put the most effort into winning the party’s nomination, pretty consistently those were the candidates who won,” said Sal Peralta, Secretary for the Independent Party of Oregon. “The folks who actually listened to what our members were telling us they were interested in tended to do well, also.”

The 2,300 primary participants made up about 4 percent of the Independent Party’s 57,000 members. The group was able to push through state legislation in 2009 which allowed them to include candidates running under another party’s name on their primary ballots. The legislation allows a candidate to have up to three nominating parties on the general election ballot, as well.

Peralta added that one of his party’s main goals with their 2009 legislation was to encourage candidates to reach out to its members, and he was happy to see this happen.

“This is clearly the most open and inclusive primary election in state history,” said Peralta. “It’s the first time ever that candidates from every political party or none at all had the opportunity to participate in a partisan primary nominating process.”

On a state government level, winners of the Independent nomination include Democrat Representatives Arnie Roblan of Coos Bay, Nancy Nathanson of Eugene, Carolyn Tomei of Portland and Speaker Dave Hunt of Clackamas. The truly independent nature of members showed through in the additional nominations of Republican representatives Matt Wingard of Wilsonville, John Huffman of The Dalles, and Vicki Berger of Salem.

The State Senate had similar results with Betsy Johnson, D-Scappose, Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, Chris Edwards, D-North Eugene, Larry George, R-Newberg, Jackie Winters, R-Salem, and Frank Morse, R-Albany.

Peralta concluded by saying he is hopeful that this process will lead to greater collaboration between Democrats and Republicans when the Legislature returns in 2011.

BY SARAH ROSS

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley

PORTLAND- A new poll released on Tuesday continues to show this year’s gubernatorial race to be a close one, despite fundraising efforts telling a different story.

Rasmussen Reports, the firm conducting the poll, stated, “Little has changed in the race to be Oregon’s next governor, with Republican Chris Dudley and Democrat John Kitzhaber still running neck-and-neck.”

The poll puts Dudley just three points ahead of Kitzhaber with 47 percent to 44 percent. Five percent of respondents preferred another candidate, and 4 percent are undecided.

With only a three percent difference, the results fall well within the poll’s +/- 4 percent margin of error. The campaign fundraising, however, is not as close as polling on the race has been.

Kitzhaber, the former statesman and Oregon governor, has raised $1,334,001 so far in 2010, while former professional basketball player Dudley has raised a whopping $2,210,664 in this election cycle.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber and former Sec. of State Bill Bradbury

As of July 28, The Cook Political Report still classified the race as leaning Democratic, meaning it is in the category of races considered competitive but where one party has an advantage.

Senior Editor at the Cook Report Jennifer Duffy said the race is a good example of an outsider attempting to take on an established politician.

“It’s one of five in the country where you have a former governor seeking his old job back, which is kind of interesting considering how tough it is to be governor these days,” said Duffy, adding that it should be a “good race.”

Duffy noted that while it is currently listed as a lean-Democrat state, implying that party has a small advantage, it could be moving into the more competitive section.

“It would not surprise me if sometime over the next couple of months I move it into toss-up,” she said.

She also mentioned that this kind of movement happens all the time and that this race alone is a good example, since it started as a likely Democratic state and has since moved to leaning Democratic.

When asked what factors go into determining how a race is moved from one category to another, she said that fundraising and good polling are the biggest things to consider.

“I got sort of a first answer when I saw their fundraising numbers. So obviously Dudley is proving he can raise money,” she said. “I’d like to see some good polling because the polling that I have seen has left something to be desired. They do show a single digit race, but I’d like to see a live interview poll. And so that will be the other factor.”