News The lad in the photo is Roshellio Sanders, age 6, of Northeast Portland. He's pretty excited. But there were plenty more pumped-up folks among the 9,000-plus crowd at the Oregon Convention Center, where the Democratic Party of Oregon held what turned out to be a massive victory party. After eight years, we'd mostly forgotten what it was like to see Democrats unbent by angst. There was U.S. ...   More

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News Over at Politico, Jonathan Martin has a post on a back-of-the-jet conversation with McCain campaign manager Rick Davis about his candidate's dwindling chances of victory. It closes with an Oregon punchline: Pressed for details on McCain's election day travel – he's slated to leave Arizona and hit Colorado and New Mexico while the polls are open – Davis joked:“We may not ...   More

News The weekend's AP report about Barack Obama's "illegal aunt" brought to mind this WW series about Sen. Gordon Smith's company in Eastern Oregon hiring undocumented immigrants. There are some key differences. The timing of the report on Obama, just 72 hours before Election Day, raised suspicions it's a Republican stink bomb. While Smith called our cover story a "slimeball," it certainly did not ...   More

News Angela Valdez, former staff writer for Willamette Week, "volunteered" for Sen. John McCain's campaign in October and has an insider's look at the final push for voters in Virginia over at Salon.com. She writes: Regardless of your politics, a call from me is an intrusion. We've become accustomed to filtering all incoming communication. The plastic trinket in the kitchen is a reminder of the days ...   More

News There's something strangely hypnotic about this video of the children from Atlanta's Ron Clark Academy performing on CNN. It's almost like a lava lamp. They aren't really dancing in unison, and yet...they are. I can't quit watching it. Plus, it's got a positive message, and we love those, especially when they're delivered by cute kiddies. [youtube UxlwYP0HNdc] By the way, you can vote however ...   More

News You can take the sleazy dude out of the Left Coast, but you can't take the Left Coast out of the sleazy dude. Phil Busse, the erstwhile Mercury editor, mayoral candidate, clairvoyant restaurant reviewer, prison boxing habitué and hilariously overpaid political campaign manager, has taken leave of Portland for a visiting professorship at St. Olaf College in Minnesota—a job that apparently ...   More

News See this adorable and civically engaged baby ? She's totally in the tank for Obama. And she's annoyed that, of 436,489 registered voters in Multnomah County, only 283,111 of you had turned in your ballots by 8 am this morning. That 64% , guys. You can do better! As soon as turnout tops 80%, this awesome baby, who belongs to a Willamette Week employee and is very concerned about the future of ...   More

News While we're certain you plan to swing by Willamette Week's super-swank election-night bash (Grand Central Bowl, 808 SE Morrison St., 236-2695. 6 pm Tuesday, Nov. 4. Free!) , we're big enough to admit that there are other events going on in and around Portland tonight to celebrate—or mourn, if you swing that way—the ballot returns. It's certainly doubtful that any of these events will ...   More

News There's been much speculation about what the Democratic Party will do now with the unprecedented grass-roots network Barack Obama assembled during the presidential campaign. If the email below from Democratic Party of Oregon boss Trent Lutz is any indication, those contacts won't be employed solely for political aims. The message arrived Sunday in our inbox, which used to be flooded with letters ...   More