News A couple of weeks ago, Josh Kardon, who has served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) since 1994, announced he was taking a leave to run his boss's re-election campaign. But now it looks as though Kardon's departure might be permanent. Today, the Tonkon Torp law firm, which has an active lobbying practice, announced Kardon will be joining joining forces with the firm, although ...   More

News U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has hired Jake Weigler to run his 2010 re-election campaign. Weigler ran Steve Novick's unsuccessful 2008 run in the Democratic primary for Oregon's other U.S. Senate seat. The Wyden campaign looks a lot easier than the 2008 task for Weigler, who has subsequently served as a spokesman at the Oregon Departments of Justice and Education (His last day at ODE is Feb. ...   More

News Now that Lewis & Clark law prof Jim Huffman is in the discussion as a potential Republican contender for the seat of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), there's a survey out testing how Huffman would do in a race against Wyden — if Huffman were to run in the May GOP primary and advance to the general election in November. The Rasmussen Reports telephone poll Feb. 16 of 500 likely Oregon ...   More

News We reported a few weeks back on U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) leaning on the State Department to let Uganda know that passage of horrific anti-gay legislation (which would incarcerate or possibly sentence to death citizens for being lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) would carry consequences for trade with the United States. Wyden's office today released this response (PDF) from the State ...   More

News Lewis & Clark Law Professor Jim Huffman will enter the U.S. Senate Race tonight at a kickoff event at Halton Tractor Company on Columbia Boulevard at 5 pm. Huffman, a Republican hopes to challenge incumbent Democrat Ron Wyden, Oregon's senior senator. Huffman's interest in the race has been in the news for a couple of weeks — which gave the Democratic Party of Oregon plenty of time ...   More

News In a rare move for Portland politics, a sitting U.S. senator has put his weight behind a candidate for local office. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has plowed $5,000 from his federal PAC into Loretta Smith's campaign for Multnomah County commissioner. Smith has been an aide to Wyden for 20 years. Josh Kardon, Wyden's former chief of staff, has also given $1,000 to Smith's campaign. Those contributions ...   More

News Unsatisfied with reading our endorsements? Dying to be a fly on the wall during our interviews? You're in luck! All of our endorsement interviews are posted online here. Part Charlie Rose, part Gong Show, the videos promise hours and hours of pure, unadulterated political wonkery. Here are a few highlights: U.S. Senate Republican hopeful Jim Huffman, recalling with a smile what it was ...   More

News Today's rain didn't stop Portland-area postal employees from gathering to protest a Postal Service proposal to end Saturday mail delivery. About 40 sign-toting letter carriers and other employees chanted “Your mail, your service, six days a week” as they marched on the sidewalk this afternoon outside Portland's main post office on Northwest Hoyt Street. The proposed end to Saturday ...   More

News The first TV ad out of the chute in the fall campaign for U.S. Senate in Oregon comes today from incumbent Democrat Ron Wyden. Wyden's initial TV ad is a 30-second positive pitch for his re-election that never mentions Republican opponent Jim Huffman, not surprising given that Wyden leads Huffman in the polls and in fund-raising. Instead, the ad portrays Wyden (who has been in the Senate ...   More

News For victims of domestic violence in Multnomah County, finding support has become a little easier. The new Gateway Center for Domestic Violence Services holds its grand opening this afternoon at 1 pm. City Commissioner Dan Saltzman and County Chairman Jeff Cogen will co-host the event at Gateway, a city-county venture that is expected to be a “one-stop services center in the Portland area” ...   More