News Former City Commissioner Charlie Hales was the most prominent advocate of the Portland streetcar and claims it as one of his biggest success stories. The eastside streetcar "loop" has recently opened, with sparse ridership and a lack of money to operate it as planned.What does Hales think about extending more streetcar lines through the city, now that he's running for mayor?In this endorsement interview ...   More

News Running for office means asking for support from a lot of influence groups and powerful players. But what happens when it's your time to govern?We asked the candidates for mayor, Rep. Jefferson Smith and Charlie Hales, this question: What's the one big decision they will make in their first year in office that will disappoint their biggest political supporters?Listen to their answers, as record during ...   More

News One of the subtexts of last year's mayoral race was that the major public employee unions—all except Service Employees International Union—bet on then-Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland), who finished a distant second to Charlie Hales.Late in the race, Portland police and fire unions withdrew their endorsements of Smith, and after Hales won, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal ...   More

News Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland) is polling his mayoral campaign volunteers about what they should do next.Smith, who lost the Portland mayor's race to Charlie Hales in November and whose legislative term ends January 13, is holding a meeting tonight at Hollywood Bowl to discuss finding a political issue his volunteers might shift toward. "Jefferson and I and a handful of others wonder what the ...   More

Murmurs Oregon Zoo officials are trying to explain away their misleading and false statements after the embarrassing news the zoo’s new baby elephant actually belongs to a California traveling elephant    More

Murmurs What can you say about a once-promising politician who lost? That he showed, even in a crushing defeat, Portland’s east-west divide still persists. State Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland) say   More

News Tim Hibbitts, one of Oregon's premier pollsters, was in our office last week sharing his thoughts about the election. Last Friday, we ran a clip in which he discussed gay marriage in Oregon and his thoughts about the decision not to push forward with an initiative in 2012.  Today, we run a clip of the interview in which he walks through the mayoral campaign of Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland). ...   More

News A race for Portland mayor that once looked like it could be a closely fought competition turned out to be a blowout.Former City Commissioner Charlie Hales successfully completed his political comeback Tuesday by winning the job of mayor, crushing his fall opponent, Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland).In early returns, Hales leads Smith 62 percent to 30 percent. And 8 percent cast write-in votes.Hales ...   More

News Backers of the proposed $3.5 billion Columbia River Crossing project suffered a defeat in Washington last night when Clark County voters rejected a ballot measure that would help pay for operations of the light-rail component of the project. The latest numbers show the measure, which would provide $2.5 million annually for operations of the proposed Portland-to-Vancouver MAX expansion, failing 56 percent ...   More

News The bouncy castle, photo booth and puppy petting area at Jefferson Smith's mayoral campaign party added a veneer of happiness to what most supporters knew going in: Tonight wouldn't involve a victory speech.The Melody Ballroom in inner Southeast never reached capacity—the party capped out at about 200 people. Smith, as well as most of his supporters, acknowledged that polls and other signals leading ...   More