Mayoral Madness: Fear Not the Elephant

It turns out negative campaigns work, even in a fake election.

Jack Bogdanski

had better hope an elephant does forget.

The Lewis & Clark law professor and prolific blogger won his second-round Mayoral Madness contest against sentimental favorite Packy, the Oregon Zoo elephant, after resorting to an exuberantly negative campaign. 

The Oregon Zoo fought back with a Twitter account, Packy SuperPAC. But Bogdanski stomped his 6-ton foe with 56 percent of the vote by alleging Packy campaigned with Metro money and has taken part in elephant-on-rhino sex. (Sorry, Packy. He had photos.)   

"Even Portland doesn't want to be this weird," Bogdanski wrote. The victory shows the continuing importance of social media behind the winners. Radio harsher Victoria Taft beat soccer mascot Timber Joey like a peewee league goalie with appeals to her followers. Actor Timothy Hutton, also working the tweets, cruised past Mattress World's Sherri Hiner. 

The biggest surprise has to be Micaela Capelle: The University of Portland soccer star beat Oregonian sports columnist John Canzano by just three votes.

This week, Hutton should fear Patty, the Magic Garden bartender, who's received more than 65 percent of votes in both her previous contests. 

Pink Martini leader Thomas Lauderdale had better watch out for Jody Stahancyk; the divorce lawyer has her practice sending out election alerts on its website. 

And this week, one inanimate object will be eliminated: It's the Paul Bunyan statue vs. a bacon maple bar. As of now, neither is on Twitter.

WWeek 2015

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