Kitzhaber Picks Up $20,000 From Oregon Nurses Association

If Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber is going to stay even in the fund-raising race with Republican candidate Chris Dudley, he's going to need a lot of help from Oregon unions.

This week, he picked up a $20,000 donation from the Oregon Nurses Association.

But still to weigh in with its wallet is the heavyweight Oregon Education Association, which is backing Kitzhaber in the general election after endorsing unsuccessful candidate Bill Bradbury in the Democratic primary back in May. In the 2006 general election for governor, the teachers union weighed in with a $500,000 independent expenditure campaign for Democrat Ted Kulongoski after not endorsing a candidate in the Democratic primary that year.