June 19, 2003
(Updated) Evidence of A Blumenauer Mayoral Run Mounts As Second 'Vision For Portland' Event Is Announced
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
Now, I will admit that there is nothing incontrovertibly conclusive about any of this.
But having seen Congressman Blumenauer make a presentation about Portland (which first convinced me he was going to run), having confirmed that his campaign conducted a telephone poll including questions about the City and next year's election, and having been informed of an upcoming conversation with Blumenauer, I have never been more certain that the Congressman is doing far more than merely considering throwing his hat into the ring.
And now comes word that there is at least one other upcoming discussion under the "Vision for Portland" umbrella.
Sent over the Office of Neighborhood Involvement notification list today was an announcement of a Saturday, June 28, "Vision for Portland" event to be held at St. Philip Neri Church (although the announcement claims a start of 9:00 AM and the Church's calendar claims 8:00 AM).
That's two "Vision for Portland" events in the course of three days. If I had any money, I'd be willing to make a bet with anyone who still thinks Blumenauer hasn't yet decided to run for mayor.
Update
Yes, I'm aware of the story in today's Portland Tribune, in which Blumenauer asserts he doesn't yet know if he's running, and won't "make up his mind ... until September."
These "Vision for Portland" meetings comes up as well:
Blumenauer ratcheted up his noncandidacy for mayor this week by scheduling a series of public meetings that he describes as a look at critical issues facing Portland. It's a process that will help him decide whether to run for mayor, he says.
Don't read too much into the meetings, Blumenauer cautioned. True, he may run for mayor. He says he'll decide by mid-September. And true, some of those meetings will be outside his congressional district. But he sees the meetings as being more about policy than politics.
"It's not a declaration that I'm running," he said. "This comes up all the time, and it's something I will in fact consider, along with running for re-election" to Congress.
Yeah, ok. They won't be only in his actual district, and they're all specifically about a vision for Portland, but they aren't about the politics of the mayoral race? Sure. As the article mentions later, Blumenauer holds "community meetings in the fall before each election year" -- but of course this isn't the fall, it's the summer, and they'll be all over town.
The article claims a "series" has been scheduled, which suggests more than just two. Must be one of those things where a public figure schedules public meetings but then only manages to tell the press about them, rather than, say, announcing them to everybody on their website.
Meanwhile, the Tribune also references that telephone poll (which, as far as I know, was first reported to be a Blumenauer poll right here):
The poll hasn't been made public. But people who have seen it said Blumenauer found the results very, very encouraging. His name recognition was high, and he did well in test races against potential candidates, they said.
At any rate, while it might be bad form to contradict someone, I don't buy the assertion that Blumenauer hasn't decided yet. More likely, he's doing all he can to run without officially announcing, just in case something springs up to throw a monkeywrench into that plan. Hence the polling and the "Vision for Portland" meetings all over town, months before he usually holds communtiy meetings. This is a campaign.