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WINNERS
Bill Sizemore
Before you accuse us of dipping into the state's first medical-marijuana
stash, consider the following: While Sizemore pulled a paltry 30 percent
of the vote in his campaign for governor, and his anti-union ballot
measure went down to defeat, the state's leading anti-tax activist still
scored a victory. He's the one who, with Measure 47 in 1996, forced
money measures onto the November ballot in even-numbered years. Sizemore's
rationale was that voters ought to see the cumulative impact of all
those proposed tax hikes rather than be bled by a steady stream of smaller
hikes in special elections. Faced with serious sticker shock this fall,
many voters just said no to popular programs like parks, community colleges
and light rail.
Peter Courtney's Rabbit
Courtney, an energetic state lawmaker from Salem, has long used
a cartoon rabbit as his mascot. So in a bizarre stab at humor, his opponent
Don Scott sent out hit mail that attacked the rabbit. Scott even put
a bandit's mask on the bunny. But the ploy backfired. Courtney won easily,
leading a surprising wave of Democratic victories in the state Senate.
Dems even picked up seats in districts where the GOP had a registration
edge. Credit goes largely to the Democratic team of Steve Novick, Mark
Wiener, Anne Hill, Hillary Barbour and Heidi Von Szeliski.
KGW-TV
Channels 2 and 6 might have been strong early in the evening. (Channel
6 called the governor's and senators' races before the polls closed
and managed to put its political analyst Jim Moore in a helicopter.)
But from 10:20 on, when a lot of political junkies were tuned in after
making the party rounds, KGW kicked butt. While competitors went national,
the folks at Channel 8 stayed local. They gave us Linda Smith's gracious
yet spooky concession speech and an interview with Patty Murray. Sure,
the KGW panel of Elaine Cogan, Norma Paulus, Harry Lonsdale and Craig
Berkman looked as old and wooden as a grove of ancient timber at times,
but they were insightful and wise.
Murphy Putnam Media
First it gave us the funny David Wu commercials: the ones in which
Wu drove around to banjo music, talking fast, like Peter DeFazio. Then
it created the most devastating ad of the season: a 30-second spot that
had seniors jiggling on jackhammers because Wu's opponent, Molly Bordonaro,
was going to cut their benefits and send them back to work. Finally,
this year-old D.C. consulting firm (which employs Rachel Gorlin, former
spin doctor for Gov. John Kitzhaber and Les AuCoin) delivered the fatal
blows: two ads, with eerie attitude, that captured Bordonaro's extremism
of two years ago. The strategy was simple: Run against the Molly of
1996 and beat the Molly of 1998.
Voters' Pamphlet
Not only did this Oregon institution survive a threat from Bill
Sizemore and Measure 59, it once again demonstrated its importance in
introducing candidates to voters--and its ability to hurt those candidates
who don't take advantage of the state's most cost-effective campaign
ad. Consider the fate of Tanya Collier, the Portland City Council candidate
who missed the fall deadline and failed to put her photo and philosophy
in the pamphlet that is available statewide. When polling-place votes
were tallied Tuesday, Collier was close, within a couple hundred votes,
of her rival Dan Saltzman. But as the absentee ballots were counted,
it was clear that the early voters--the ones who rely so much on the
Voters' Pamphlet--were tilting the race sharply in Saltzman's favor.
He ended up winning by 10,000 votes.
The Kafoury Clan
The family's political dynasty in Oregon started with Steve Kafoury's
election to the state Legislature in 1973. Ever since, one of the Kafourys
has held office. With the election of Deborah to the state House this
year, the K-clan (Steve, Gretchen, Deborah) has a chance to pass the
Roberts gang (Frank, Betty, Barbara and Mary Wendy), which held office
from 1967 to 1994.
David Kish
Kish is the most powerful Portland bureaucrat you probably never
heard of. He is the city's building and construction czar and was perhaps
the leading advocate of the $58 million fire station bond measure that
voters approved. As such, he accomplished what Jim Francesconi, Tom
Walsh and Vera Katz couldn't do for parks, light rail and the convention
center, respectively. Now he's got a slew of new fire stations to build.
Campaign-Finance Reform
Maybe it's wishful thinking, but in this case the bad news--that
a record amount was spent in Oregon's 1998 campaigns--was offset by
good news: Jesse Ventura won the governor's race in Minnesota by running
against moneyed special interests; ditto for Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold,
who refused to accept "soft" money. Voters in Arizona and Massachusetts
both passed sweeping campaign-finance laws--and Oregonians should expect
a similar measure on their ballots in two years.
Ted Piccolo
This relatively unknown young North Portland business owner led
the charge against light rail, the convention center and the parks bond
with his anti-tax mantra that "Money is life." Now he's public enemy
number one with Portland's liberal political establishment. That a fairly
small player like Piccolo could lead the battle against light rail--and
succeed--showed the weakness of the south-north campaign.
Erik Sten
Portland's youngest city commissioner cruised into a second term
without a serious challenge, freeing him to help his aide Serena Cruz
win a county commission seat and shower Democratic legislative candidates
with campaign contributions. More important, Dan Saltzman was elected
to the City Council, which creates an ideal opportunity for Sten. He
can turn over the reins of the city's massive sewer agency to Saltzman,
an environmental engineer. Then Sten can walk away after cutting sewer
rates--and before he's saddled with inevitable problems connected to
the city's $1 billion sewer renovation project.
George Soros
The New York billionaire and champion of individual freedoms bankrolled
Oregon's two pro-pot measures. He won both--thanks in part to the late
Tom McCall. Campaign manager Geoff Sugerman says the pot-decriminalization
measure was viewed most favorably by older and Republican voters when
the campaign invoked the name of McCall, who was governor when Oregon
first decriminalized pot back in the early 1970s.
Anti-Growthers
Throbbing anxieties about growth were most acute in Metro Council
races. Bill Atherton, perhaps the region's leading no-growther, won
his race easily, although he spent a pittance--approximately 2 percent
of what his predecessor Don Morissette dropped to get elected in 1994.
Atherton prevailed by painting his rival, John Jackley, as a tool of
homebuilders. This was quite a turnaround in a district now represented
by homebuilder Morissette. In a neighboring Metro race, slow-growther
Liz Callison won more than 40 percent against David Bragdon--the darling
of Portland's liberal elite--even though Callison had little money,
no name recognition, few endorsements and no campaign experience. She
did have one interesting argument: She was against light rail because
it was a vehicle for accommodating growth.
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LOSERS
Mark Hatfield
Three reasons: Convention Center expansion, light rail and Molly
Bordonaro. Hatfield publicly backed all three. All three went down in
defeat. In a similar bet, downtown business leaders coughed up big contributions
for the same trifecta and went bust on election day.
John Kitzhaber and Ron Wyden
Although they both won more than 60 percent of the vote, Kitzhaber
and Wyden were trashed by pundits and Democratic party insiders. Why?
Because they had money and popularity to burn and didn't do enough to
help light rail (see 500 Words) and Democratic legislative candidates.
Kitzhaber was singled out because a difference in 2,000 votes would
have given Democrats control of the state House. "He certainly could
have had the House," stressed Stephanie Fowler on OPB's Seven Days.
Thomas Wilde
Many Democrats revile the flaky state senator from North Portland
who dropped out of the donkey party last month to become an independent.
So when popular ex-legislator Margaret Carter lost her bid for state
school superintendent last week, word quickly started to spread that
Wilde would face a recall election. Then, Democrats would hope to install
Carter in Wilde's seat. If that fails, look for Carter to go after Wilde
when he's up for reelection in two years.
Jon Kvistad
Talk about adding insult to injury. The Metro councilor had already
lost a stinging primary election to Molly Bordonaro back in May. His
bad luck continued when four new Metro councilors were swept into office
on election day and made no secret of their intention to depose Kvistad
as presiding officer--the only spot on the Metro Council that offers
a full-time salary. On top of that, Metro's south-north light-rail plan
was derailed, in effect, scuttling parts of the regional growth blueprint
that Kvistad had helped write.
Project VoteSmart
The non-partisan voter education group in Corvallis struggled mightily
to convince skittish candidates to answer its detailed questionnaire.
Those candidates' fears were soon realized when Republican consultants
cranked out hit pieces based on Democrats' answers to VoteSmart. In
perhaps a more damaging blow, Oregonian columnist David Reinhard
pummeled VoteSmart, making the do-gooder group sound petty, partisan
and petulant for excoriating a Republican candidate that the group said
broke its rules.
Republican National Congressional Committee
GOP strategists in Washington, D.C., spent over $750,000 attacking
Democrat Brian Baird in Washington's 3rd Congressional District. Most
of the ads were ineffective, if not insulting--and Baird rolled to victory.
Meanwhile, Republicans across the river in Oregon groused that the GOP
should have spent more than $300,000 in Oregon's 1st District, where
Molly Bordonaro lost by just 6,000 votes.
Vicki Ervin
Once the polls closed, the Multnomah County Elections Division and
its director, Ervin, became a favorite punching bag--with good reason.
Candidates, campaign workers, journalists and curious cybercitizens
couldn't access results from Oregon's most populous county unless they
had a special software gizmo. Even when the problem was finally fixed,
the county tabulations didn't include the "undervote," as those of other
counties did.
Higher Education
Oregon's public universities and colleges took two direct hits on
election day: First, Portland Community College lost a $135 million
bond measure; second, voters rejected Measure 55, which would have bolstered
enrollment through prepaid tuition. That's just for starters. Oregon
colleges may also lose money with the passage of Measure 66, which earmarks
millions of lottery dollars to parks. And the more conservative GOP
majority elected to the House is expected to vent some of its anger
at Kitzhaber by being more stingy with tax dollars for higher education
and Kitzhaber's Oregon Health Plan.
Westside MAX
All the experts expected the south-north light-rail campaign to
get a big boost from the September opening of the westside MAX line.
Most thought that Washington Count voters would conclude, "Westside
is great--let's expand the grid." Instead, it appeared Washington County
voters said, "I'm taken care of. Why should
I help North Portland and Clackamas Town Center?"
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