MAD LIB

By HENRY STERN

Even the most ardent Oregon Democrat would probably have a hard time filling in the blanks about Pete Sorenson.

Sorenson has been running across the state in his 1996 Saturn these past four months, hard on Gov. Ted Kulongoski's left. His seemingly quixotic quest: defeating the incumbent in the May 2006 Democratic primary.

Since Sorenson is taking the "mad-as-hell liberal" road on the campaign trail, we thought a Mad Lib™ might help introduce this guy who thinks he can sink Teddy K. Fill in the blanks with your best guesses on the insurgent.

A former state senator, Sorenson has been a (job) since 1997.

Asked why he believes he can take out Kulongoski, Sorenson says a primary attracts (adjective) Democrats, which makes favorable territory for a challenger. Sorenson also says a key question will be whether Kulongoski has been a strong (noun) while governor, and the upstart contends he will be in good position to make the case against Kulongoski because he started his campaign (adverb) .

One of Sorenson's top issues is generating more state revenue by (verb) the share of income taxes paid by corporations from (number) percent back closer to (number) percent.

With a year to go and little name recognition beyond close relatives, Sorenson says the initial campaign can be a hard slog. At one recent gathering of Deschutes County Democrats, Sorenson estimates he knew only (number) of 40 people in the room.

"I meet a lot of people who don't know I'm (action) ,'' Sorenson says. "But I have the (noun) , intellect and drive to do this.''

Answers

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