The Merkley / Smith Furniture War

Posted inOpinion

The Merkley / Smith Furniture War

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The campaign weapon of choice. Holy credenzas, will the Gordon Smith / Jeff Merkley Furniture War ever end?

It began in mid-July, when Oregon's (and the West Coast's) only Republican senator began running ads accusing the Democrat Merkley, the speaker of the Oregon House, of spending $2 million on new furniture and carpeting for legislative offices.

The ads were a little misleading in a couple of respects. For one thing, Merkley didn't approve the outlay all by himself - it was authorized by a bipartisan legislative panel. And if you weren't paying close attention, the ad could give you the idea that the whole $2 million was spent on Merkley's office.

All the same, the ad appears to have worked.

Before he fired the first shot in the Furniture War, Smith's ads had concentrated on downplaying his Republicanism and playing up his bipartisanship. That strategy wasn't too effective - in fact, a Rasmussen poll in early July actually showed Merkley a little bit ahead of Smith. After the first furniture ad, things turned around.

Posted inOpinion

Going off the Rails: Damage control for the GOP and rescue me

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Now familiar with the whole background check thing. GOP

After the historic DNC Convention in Denver, which saw some 84,000 Obama supporters gather to hear his acceptance speech at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos, Republicans were surely looking to make a huge splash with their convention in St. Paul, Minn. But after a strategic start which saw McCain steal a bit of Obama's thunder by announcing his pick for V.P. the day after the DNC, things have sputtered and then spiraled for the GOP. First Hurricane Gustav rolled up on a beleaguered Gulf Coast as Category 4, stealing the Republicans’ thunder, wind, lightning, fire and a few other yet to be identified elements, and forcing the convention planners to temporarily delay the kick off of the "festivities" in St. Paul, Minn. Instead of getting back on track, though, the McCain train appears to have jumped the rails with revelations that his largely unknown pick for VP was keeping secret that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant - something that is sure to rile the party's deeply conservative Christian base. Sarah Palin, the self-described "hockey mom" and first term governor may have a few more skeletons in the closet. At the very least, the former beauty queen whose most extensive political tenure was on the Wasilla City Council is feeling the burn of the national media spotlight. As of Tuesday morning the web was lighting up with stories that had Palin under investigation for firing her state transportation director, a move that some said came after he refused to fire the ex-husband of Palin's sister. Palin, who made her name, in so far as she has one, as a crusader against oil company corruption in her home state, also risks being pulled into the scandal surrounding Alaska Senior Senator Ted Stevens, for whom she has reportedly done fundraising. But the real barometer for the Palin Pick may be the website intrade.com, which put odds on whether Palin would be pulled from the McCain ticket on its popular betting/forecasting site.

Posted inOpinion

Reviewer Should Get A Clue

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Letter of the Week

We give bonus points around here for righteous anger and indignation and we heard more than a little bit of that over our off-the-cuff review of the Art in the High Desert piece.
So, while we take it on the chin, we'll hand out a pat on the back to Steven Douglas for his pointed letter on our piece.

Posted inOpinion

Close Encounters

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I saw a huge UFO over the Cascade Range last week that had numerous lights and a beam of red light searching the ground for something. Has anyone seen this thing too? It was huge, probably a mile across, and at night right above Mt.

Posted inOpinion

Let ‘Em Drown

Intern

Thank you Paul for finally speaking the truth. That spillway is a DEATH SENTENCE! I'm glad that in your entire five summers here (winters in Arizona?) you are finally acting upon "hearing" of the dangers of the spillway.

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