August 27, 2004
(Updated) Returning For A Friday Campaign Round-Up
To Quote George Costanza: "I'm Back, Baby, I'm Back"
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
As our entrance back into things here -- and before we attempt to assiduously solider through the writing and posting of three original and rather length reports -- it's time for a tour through recent campaign news and developments from the past week or so, while we've been away.
First of all, the Willamette Week this Wednesday suggested that the strategy of Mayoral candidate Tom Potter (which they call "doing as little as possible") might turn out to be "downright brilliant" given that the antics of opponent Jim Francesconi have been leading to things such as his loss of the police union endorsement.
(Parenthetically, the paper also joined the Hibbitts-bashing that readers have been witnessing here and on other local weblogs lately, including our favorite bit about liberals as police-haters, and suggests it might be "signs of vitamin deficiency.")
Speaking of losing endorsements, readers might recall our mention of an Oregonian report (scroll down to the update) that former City Commissioner Mike Lindberg was "assessing his role for the November general election." Well, according to today's "City Matters" column (which as per usual appears not to have made it onto OregonLive), Lindberg indeed has withdrawn his endorsement of Francesconi and given it to Potter, citing the former's foray into negative campaigning as the reason.
Also on Wednesday, the Francesconi campaign announced its new plan for the candidate's first 100 days of being Mayor. The new plan is available online, and at some point we will dig around to see if we saved any pdf copies of the original so we all have a chance to compare and contrast its evolution.
Said new plan received coverage in Thursday's Oregonian as well as an editorial in today's edition.
Also on Thursday, a large selection of letters to the editor was published in The Oregonian about the recent campaign developments out of the Mayoral race, including one which says that Francesconi should not be derided for "using common political tactics" as if attempting to smear one's opponent is something we should all just accept and not consider a reflection upon a candidate's personality and/or management style.
Elsewhere on Thursday, The Portland Mercury weighed in on the police union endorsement, and reported from the recent forum on arts and culture, something also covered in today's Oregonian.
That will have to do it for the moment. As readers might recall, we've still to complete our report from a couple of candidate conversations out in East Portland, as well as one from the just-mentioned arts and culture forum. But if nothing else, this item serves as the announcement that our week-long break is just about over and done with.
Update
A quick comment on the above-mentioned letter to the editor suggesting that it's wrong to criticize Francesconi for "using common campaign tactics" in his Mayoral run.
Some of the most major and telling decisions a candidate makes when running for office are about exactly how his campaign will be run. In his primary campaign, Francesconi made the decision to try to buy his way to the office. In his general campaign, he's made the decision to try to sleaze his way to the office. Earlier today, Jack Bogdanski referred to the "clumsiness" of the Francesconi campaign, but we argue it's far more than that.
Regardless of what one thinks of his "back to basics" message, even a Mayor with that agenda needs to have both leadership and imagination. The decisions Francesconi has made on how he would conduct himself and his campaign are lacking on both counts -- and that simply is not irrelevant to how he likely would function as Mayor.
Update
We neglected to mention the profile of Vera Katz' legacy as Mayor of Portland from today's Portland Tribune, which came with a sidebar on "landmarks" and "land mines" from her tenure, and a shorter piece with various comments about her workload.
Comments (1)
Lynn on 27 Aug 2004
Does anyone have Tim Hibbits' email address? Or phone? I'm going to invite him to dinner. Seriously. Or maybe to the Wednesday morning Stitchin' Sedition knitting and political discussion group I host. I like the police, I can't drink lattes, I'm one house payment away from homelessness, and I'm a progressive. All of the women in my knitting circle are progressive, and none of us are rich or deluded; one of us makes lattes for a living. Apparently he doesn't know any actual PEOPLE in Portland, because he would not have said such stupid things if he did.
BTW, politicos, if you wanna come talk to the Seditionists, you're welcome, just email me. We'd love it and you probably would too.