Eight Days Until 26-48
A couple of items from today's Oregonian regarding the upcoming special election.
First, there's an examination of the potential impact upon the outcome by East Multnomah County voters:
The list of failed tax measures in east Multnomah County runs as long as successful tax measures in Portland.
Oregon's tax-revolt movement was born in east county, after all, culminating in the passage of the property tax-limiting Measure 5 more than a decade ago.
...
Yes, east county voters "scrutinize everything" and "have a bit of an outsider's attitude," ["Yes on 26-48" campaign manager Liz] Kaufman said, but judging by the responses phone bank volunteers have heard, she's optimistic.
"I'm not saying we're going to sweep east county, but it looks better than people wanted to believe in the beginning," she said. "Mid-east county is a huge player for us. Gresham is the whole wad, really."
Kaufman said she'd be satisfied if more than 45 percent of mid- and east county voters supported the tax measure. But she's counting on majority "yes" votes in precincts that lie within Portland Public Schools. The key, she said, is to mine the "yes" votes around the county to make up for east county's "no" votes.
And not directly tied to Measure 26-48, but still relevant to the election, there's a set of skimpy profiles of each of the candidates for the Portland School Board.