SHUT UP & VOTE!

[October 18th, 2006]

^The Best Political "Party"

Candidates Gone Wild fleshes out which gubernatorial candidates want a good time and which ones want to stay home.

Pop quiz:

1) Which major-party candidate for governor loves Diet Snapple and the television program Green Acres and has two pairs of slippers—one set for inside and one for outside? (Hint: He has pink-elephant wallpaper in his bathroom.)

2) Which major-party candidate wishes he could pack heat rather than live with security guards, says he's a "chips and salsa" kind of guy and isn't embarrassed to show off the contents of his beer-filled refrigerator (Hint: His official residence is Mahonia Hall.)

Those questions wouldn't stump anyone who attended Candidates Gone Wild, the uproarious political extravaganza co-sponsored by WW and the Bus Project.

The Monday night event, which packed the Roseland Theater, pitted the state's third-party candidates for governor against televised (and improvised) versions of Republican Ron Saxton and Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski (the respective answers to questions One and Two, by the way).

The political "party" featured spoofs of MTV's Cribs, with behind-the-scenes tours of Saxton's and Kulongoski's homes, and the TV program Blind Date (called "Blind Candidate"), both by Public Media Works. There were also short films by Ffake, LLC on state initiatives.

The Constitution Party's Mary Starrett, Pacific Green Party's Joe Keating and the Libertarians' Richard Morley had enough guts to attend, submitting themselves to a barrage of silly tests in a series of skits called Rockstar Gubernova, Family Feud and Oregon Idol.

While neither Saxton nor Kulongoski made official stage appearances (Saxton said weeks ago he would not show, and Kulongoski canceled a couple days before, citing a funeral he had to attend earlier in the day), 11-year-old actor Alex Mentzel and ex-WW intern Adrian Chen convincingly channeled the candidates' respective personas.

"Republicans aren't nearly as scary when they come in your size," Sheila Hamilton, a Rockstar Gubernova panelist, told the pint-sized Mentzel.

Portland's first lady of loungecore, Storm Large, kept the wisecracks flying throughout much of the evening. When someone in the audience asked where Saxton was, she made reference to his position on immigration matters. "He's on border patrol," she quipped.

Starrett, a former TV host whose platform includes opposing abortion, managed to charm the audience of mostly left-leaning voters by detailing her opposition to the Iraq war.

Keating stood on his head during the talent show portion of the event. And Morley made the boldest fashion statement, sporting a white turtleneck and blue blazer that prompted Large to say, "You kind of have a Mr. Howell thing going on."

Lovey, it was fabulous.

—BETH SLOVIC

^Trail Mix

Legal love and electric power.

While we don't usually place much stock in endorsements (except our own, of course, starting on page 14), one caught our eye this week: More than half of Oregon's county district attorneys signed on to back Gov. Ted Kulongoski . Conventional wisdom suggests that the 21 DAs endorsing the Democratic incumbent, a former Oregon Supreme Court justice, might have gone with a law-and-order Republican like Ron Saxton. But not one county DA is backing Saxton, who's pledged to double the number of state police and cut the cost of feeding prisoners. "There's a level of respect and trust between [prosecutors] and Kulongoski," says Clatsop County DA Josh Marquis. "With him, what you see is what you get."

Since billionaire Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings bought PacifiCorp last year, the utility's top brass have lobbied ceaselessly against a law passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2005 to force utilities to pay all taxes they collect from ratepayers, instead of pocketing a healthy portion of them. While other big utilities in town fund their political giving from the corporate treasury, six top company officials, including MidAmerican CEO Greg Abel, recently sent a heavy-handed letter this election season to employees. "Your participation is extremely valuable; however, it is also completely voluntary, and in no way affects your employment or compensation," Abel wrote. "I have enclosed a payroll deduction form [and] am asking you to consider a contribution to the PacifiCorp/MidAmerican PAC of up to 1 percent of base pay." PacifiCorp spokesman Scott Bolton says the PAC will give primarily in federal elections and will be employee-funded.

^Dean's Decision

Howard Dean comes to town facing the question: Is he risking short-term Democratic gains for longer-term rewards?

With Gov. Ted Kulongoski locked in a tough re-election bid, it's no wonder Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean will be in Portland this week to show the flag for the Democratic incumbent.

But as Dean arrives Wednesday, Oct. 18, for a rally with Kulongoski and other top Democrats in blue Oregon, it's Dean's attention to red states that's got some other D's fuming.

Dean is spreading party money and his time in red states as well as blue as part of a 50-state strategy he calls an overdue Democratic rebuilding everywhere. That includes states in the South and Plains where it's become impossible in recent years to imagine a Democrat competing.

"We didn't have a long-term strategy," says Dean, who became DNC chair last year.

But some critics within the party say an unpopular Iraq war on President Bush's watch plus the Foley scandal on GOP congressional leadership's watch should equal a chance for Democrats to rip the U.S. Senate and House from the Republicans.

Hard-nosed number-counters like Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) have told national media that the DNC instead should focus on battleground states where concentrating money and time could capitalize on a historic aligning of events against Republicans.

Don't count Neel Pender, executive director of the Democratic Party of Oregon, among Dean's detractors.

"It's not an either/or,'' says Pender, whose state party is pursuing a similar statewide version of organizing in all 36 Oregon counties. "This plan complements the goal of taking back Congress."

Dean says Democrats can achieve their goals at the same time as they're re-establishing roots everywhere. Asked if his strategy can be judged a failure if D's don't take back the House and Senate, Dean says "absolutely not." He says it will be a success if by 2008, the field of local candidates in previously fallow ground has bloomed.

As for whether he'd use those new connections to rekindle his own presidential aspirations, Dean says not in 2008.

"Hopefully, we'll have a Democrat in the White House,'' says Dean, who was his party's presumed frontrunner for the presidential nomination in 2004 before his "screaming" flameout.

—HENRY STERN