The Wandering Eye

Oregonian political blogger Jeff Mapes has an interesting analysis of how John Kitzhaber was able to eke out a razor-thin victory over Chris Dudley for the governorship. Some of the main points:
The Ground Game: Democrats made the most of their 10% registration edge in the state by mounting an intensive canvassing and phone banking campaign to make sure Democrats actually voted.

The midterm election campaign that just ended (thank god) was about many things – the deficit, unemployment, health care reform, whether Christine O’Donnell really is a witch – but the background motif playing behind all of them was the eternal theme: taxes.
On the national level, Republicans pounded on the message that Barack Obama had raised taxes.

Bend City Council candidate Scott Ramsay has invited all his fellow Tea Partiers to an “election results rally” tonight at the Sun Mountain Fun Center.
You say you didn’t know Ramsay was a Tea Partier? That’s not surprising – neither did we.

Whenever I feel in need of a dose of right-wing nuttiness, The Bulletin's editorial page never lets me down. If the editorials themselves fail to deliver, the “In My View” pieces or letters to the editor always come through.

The Tax Foundation has released its 2011 ratings of state tax business tax climates, and Oregon is holding its own at Number 14 – the same position as last year.
The non-partisan but conservative-leaning foundation ranks states according to five factors: corporate tax rates, individual income tax rates, sales taxes, unemployment insurance taxes and property taxes.

When I want to find out what rational (well, mostly rational) Oregon Republicans are thinking I go to Oregon Catalyst. When I want to have a laugh at the antics of the far-right lunatic fringe I go to NW Republican.

Slate has published an updated version of its jobs map, and it’s fascinating viewing.
The map – first published in the spring of 2009 and last updated about a year ago – tracks job losses and gains month by month and county by county from January 2007 through August 2010.

File under “Who came up with THIS idea?”: A new advertising campaign aims to attract businesses to Bend by telling them what a great place it is to play and drink.
According to a story in The Bulletin’s Business section on Wednesday, a campaign put together by Visit Bend, the city’s tourism promotion agency, hopes to sell business owners on Bend’s great “active outdoor lifestyle.

From a news item that moved on The Associated Press wire yesterday morning:
“Intel Corp. on Tuesday revealed the scope of its latest infusion to keep its factories cutting-edge and push the chip industry’s pace: an investment of up to $8 billion to build a new factory in Oregon and upgrade four existing plants in Arizona and Oregon.

The Bulletin, whose editorial page day by day is sounding more like The Tea Party Gazette, pitched a hissy fit this morning over what it calls a “desperate lie” against Jason Conger.
What has The Bulletin’s editorial board sputtering and fuming is a mailer recently sent to Bend voters by supporters of incumbent Judy Stiegler that claims Conger “wants to teach creationism in our public schools” and “wants to drain millions from Bend’s public schools.