Food & Drink Gateway Breakfast House is a quaint, unassuming diner way out on Northeast Halsey. The place is cramped. The servers and regulars are on a first name basis. “Enjoy our tasty food and tasteless conversation” is scrawled on the wall. Gateway would be perfectly at home in Anytown, USA. “Did you hear Obama ate here on Tuesday and ordered a grilled cheese and split pea and ham soup? Yeah, that’s ...   More

News President Obama's unsurprising announcement this morning that he will seek re-election in 2012 makes us curious what our readers think about his chances next year.To frame that question a bit more, consider that three Democratic presidents have sought election from the White House in the last half-century: Lyndon Johnson in 1964, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Bill Clinton in 1996. This leads you to believe ...   More

News Put U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley on the lengthening list of Democratic lawmakers to express frustration with President Obama's decision to launch U.S. forces in a military intervention against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.  In a written statement, the Oregon Democrat's office told WW he "has serious concerns about America's involvement in a third conflict in the Middle East." While Merkley spokesman ...   More

News  Remember when U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said a couple years ago that his 1996 vote for the federal Defense of Marriage Act was the worst vote of his congressional career?Turns out the Obama administration now thinks lawmakers like Blumenauer were on to something when they realized the federal act (better known as DOMA) against same-sex marriage rights was a bad idea. The administration ...   More

News  This afternoon President Obama's office announced he will come to Oregon next week to talk about education during a visit to Intel in Hillsboro. And that visit creates two interesting local questions for political obsessives about whether a couple elected officials will be around to greet the president on Friday, Feb. 18.One of the questions stems from when Obama last came to Oregon in October ...   More

News  In advance of President Obama's State of the Union speech tonight, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is weighing in with what he wants Obama to mention.Merkley tells Marketplace the president should focus on foreclosures because "housing got us into this recession, and as long as housing is a mess, we're going to be in a recession for a very long time."And if you're looking for a worthy piece on foreclosures ...   More

News U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has never been shy about opposing the Obama administration despite the fact Obama is the Democratic candidate DeFazio supported in his party's 2008 presidential primaries. So perhaps it's no big surprise there's a report out today from CBS News that DeFazio is already one of the House Democrats signing this letter being circulated among House Democrats by Rep. ...   More

News U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) has joined Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) in the revolt by House Democrats against President Obama's tax deal. Wu's office said this morning that Wu—who supported Obama in the 2008 presidential primaries—has signed the letter circulated by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) in opposition to the deal Obama made with House Republicans. UPDATE: “Investing in ...   More

News U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenuaer (D-Ore.) has become the third House Democrat from Oregon to oppose President Obama's tax deal. In urging the president to in essence show some backbone in dealings with Republicans, Blumenauer joins with Reps. Peter DeFazio and David Wu as opponents of Obama's deal with the GOP. UPDATE: And U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader has become the fourth of Oregon's four House Democrats ...   More