WOLF - Winner

Break out the soy crisps: NaderQuest is back on! After Secretary of State Bill Bradbury spiked Ralph Nader's Oregon hopes on a ticky-tack foul call for petition errors, a Marion County judge jumped in and restored the presidential anti-hopeful to the fall ballot (see page 8). Apparently, ego-driven self-aggrandizers are allowed to run for president, after all.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski dodged a--well, not a bullet, exactly. Sharp-eyed postal workers in Portland intercepted a letter rigged with a crude bomb, addressed to Guv K himself. The strange attempt to singe chief execs with booby-trapped matches targeted a number of governors around the country.

The state-owned workers'-comp agency SAIF basked in rare good news last week. The state's ethics watchdog largely cleared the insurance-slinger on charges that it underreported payments to lobbyists. SAIF's neck remains on the block in a heated ballot initiative battle.

Those who long to hear the lonesome howl of the wolf may be in luck. The state accepted a plan drafted to allow eight or more packs of wolves from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming to meander into our territory and breed.

LOSERS

Nothing's final yet, but it looks like the bad-news Blazers will surrender control of the bankrupt Rose Garden to a management outfit based in Philadelphia. This humiliation is just the latest example of spendthrift billionaire owner Paul Allen's reverse-Midas touch.

The chemical-ridden water of Portland Harbor may not face detox as soon as environmentalists hope. Nine companies backed away from a voluntary agreement with the EPA to deal with harbor pollution. The setback leaves big business and environmentalists locked in negotiation on a cleanup plan.

Oregon's embattled proletarians shivered in their work boots (or wingtips--whatever), as bad economic news landed with a gruesome thud. Unemployment jumped to 7.4 percent, puncturing recovery hopes. Meanwhile, new data showed the state's cost of living far outstripping modest wage gains. Bartender--a shot of Dickel, and leave the bottle!