No. 1 for protests, dead last in primaries.

[March 21st, 2007] WINNERS

Portland's antiwar protesters put other left-leaning cities to shame with Sunday's downtown rally drawing an estimated 15,000 people (though falling short of some organizers' earlier projections of up to 30,000 people). News reports indicated New York City fielded 1,000 protesters, while San Francisco mustered just 3,000. (See page 11 for the scoop on WW's guerilla protester.)

First there was potty parity, now there's Viagra vengeance for Oregon women . Last week, the state House overwhelmingly approved a measure to require private insurers to cover birth control pills.

OK, beating Miami of Ohio (is that sorta like Detroit of Oregon?) and Winthrop doesn't rank among the all-time feats of college basketball. But Oregon's wins over those two schools in the opening rounds of the NCAA men's tourney did put the Ducks into this week's Sweet 16. Memo to Oregonian sports columnist John Canzano: Maybe head coach Ernie Kent isn't such an idiot after all.

For once, the Oregon Legislature exceeded expectations. Lawmakers added 1 percent of annual revenues to a newly created rainy-day fund, which already includes $275 million from a one-year repeal of the corporate kicker.

LOSERS

Tonya Harding landed the newspaper-headline equivalent of a triple axel after what may have been a medication meltdown last week. Harding called police to report thieves had broken into her car and stashed weapons on her property. After a friend made a second call to report Harding was "tweaking out," Harding was hospitalized.

If Oregon sits on its ass a little bit longer, perhaps we'll have the distinction of hosting the last presidential primary of 2008. California last week became the latest state to move up its primary to February 2008, meaning the contests will almost certainly be decided long before Oregon voters get a say three months later in the May primary.

Portland's wobbly charter-reform process got wobblier last week as Mayor Tom Potter's office acknowledged errors in ballot language concerning the auditor's staff. Commissioner Randy Leonard, who opposes Potter's measures, was then happy to make additional claims that the proposals on the May 15 ballot contain several other errors or unintended consequences.