David Wu, Chinese Cartoon Villain and Special Elections

Congressman David Wu finally resigned on Wednesday of this week sparking late night comedy spoofs on Jay Leno and this special Chinese cartoon version of the story (1:15) ending with the words “theTaiwan Nightmare has come to an end.” The special election dates to fill his seat have been set by Governor Kitzhaber with the primary on November 8 and the General election on January 31,^,2012.

As widely expected, state Senator Suzanne Bonamici (D) entered the race this week and announced she has already raised $240k in the first five days, putting her equal with Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian’s three-month effort. The other Democratic contender Brad Witt had a good showing on KGW’s Straight Talk last week but has yet to release the true measure of his candidacy…money raised.

On the Republican side of the race, Rob Cornelius, who was defeated by Wu in 2010, also entered the race this week, touting a list of endorsers including, ironically former U.S. Senator Bob Packwood who himself left office under accusations of being a sexual predator, with friends like those…

Although the district has been represented by a Democrat since 1975, Republicans are hoping to convince voters “party leaders evidently knew about David Wu’s behavior and the hiding of that behavior.”

This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2011.