Winners

1. 1. It's not just Bible-thumpers who oppose gambling. A nascent anti-gambling campaign in Oregon can look to Ralph Nader for help. In fact, campaign organizer Greg Kafoury says Nader told him 10 years ago that state-run gambling would sweep the country and turn government into "a pimp hustling the gullible and the weak." Nader's position can be heard live 7 pm Wednesday, Sept. 24, when he will speak at Portland State University's Smith Center.

2.Fans of the Columbia Gorge are holding out hope after Oregon's two senators asked for $8 million to purchase land in the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area. A competing House bill asks for nothing. If the Senate version survives in the final bill, $8 million would the single largest appropriation for the Gorge.

3.Jonathan Mozzochi, executive director of the Coalition for Human Dignity, is returning to his forte. Mozzochi, who is well-known for digging up dirt on right-wingers and racists, has taken over as research director of the nonprofit group.

Losers

1. Once again Nike faced charges of unfair labor practices overseas during its shareholders meeting. Phil Knight responded to charges from the group Global Exchange by suggesting that the San Francisco activists are communists.

2.Proponents of campaign finance reform expected it, but it still hurt. Sen. Gordon Smith announced last week that he's forming a political action committee to fund GOP candidates next fall. With Measure 9 limits gutted by the court rulings, Smith's PAC now can give as much as it wants to state candidates.

 3. Thinking that if anyone's ever going to be interested in Vancouver, it's now, the Vancouver Columbiantook advantage of the I-5 bridge closure to hype its coverage of the crisis that never came. The Columbian distributed free papers in Portland and ran numerous radio ads touting the paper as the best source of bridge info. Problem is, the ads were still running after the bridge re-opened.