08/19/2002 Archived Entry: "DSCC Frontline: The Oregon Pacific-Green Party Declines to Run a Candidate for Senate"
In a state that showed strong Green party turnout in the 2000 election, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury's chances are buoyed by the lack of a Green Party candidate in his race for the U.S. Senate. The Pacific Green Party held their nominating conference this weekend and was unable to field a candidate against Bradbury. In the meantime, the Constitution Party has nominated Lon Mabon, the well-known anti-gay rights activist, as their U.S. Senate nominee. He is expected to siphon votes from Gordon Smith.
I doubt that Mabon is going to get many votes, perhaps 1-2% at best. However, the Green candidate would have without a doubt gotten 2% for just having their name on the ballot, 3-5% if they were a credible candidate. Even though he voted against ANWR, Smith has been in battles with the environmentalist groups for a longtime. Daschle stopped by to campaign for Bradbury. And though in some states the Greens are in conflict with the Democrats, in Oregon, they appear willing to put aside their own party interests in the hope of electing Democrats, or keeping Republicans out, at least at the state level. Now, will we see MWO and Eric Alterman send congratulations to Bradbury/Kulongoski and send thanks to the Pacific Greens?
If you like budget battles, Oregon has a barnburner going on, Gov Kitzhaber said: send me something to sign that will balance the budget; the Republicans send him a borrow and spend bill, and he veto'd the budget. Until one is passed, schools will not be able to open. They 4th special session just ended, with the legislature upholding Kitzhaber's veto by just one vote. They are adjourned until Tuesday.
Replies: 19 comments
This is good news for Bradbury-he'll need every vote he can get. However, the Greens are running a candidate for Governor (ex-Congressman Jim Weaver), so your statement that the Greens are yielding is not entirely true, mydd.
I'm thinking of making a website dedicated to Hubert Humphrey. Any suggestions?
Posted by Mr. Liberal @ 08/19/2002 04:39 PM PST
Mr. Liberal-it would seem to me that a credible Green candidate for Gov. is very good for Bradbury. Mannix is much too conservative to win in Oregon, so Weaver isn't a real problem for Kulongoski, but he could boost Green turnout, and I assume most of them would back Bradbuery over Smith, which could possibly give Bradbury the push he needs to pull of the upset. If this happens, and the Dems take the OR legislature, it is possible that all three Pacific Coast states have full Democratic power-Democratic Governor, Democratic legislature, 2 Democratic Senators, more Democrats than Republicans in the ouse, and voted for Gore.
Posted by AVADem @ 08/19/2002 05:26 PM PST
I agree. An extra green turnout for Weaver won't hurt Kulongoski much, but WILL help Bradbury. I'm all for it.
Posted by RParker @ 08/19/2002 05:47 PM PST
Weaver said he wouldn't run if Mannix got the GOP nomination:
http://www.ohiogreens.org/features/020413/oregon.html
I put up a link to the Greens not running candidates, send it to MWO and Eric, lol.
Posted by myDD @ 08/19/2002 06:10 PM PST
Weaver announced he wasn't running, citing Kulongoski's support for abortion/gay rights. So much for increased Green turnoout helping Bradbury.
Posted by TXdem @ 08/19/2002 07:49 PM PST
I am by no means an expert on Oregon politics, but I think it's fair to observe that Senator Smith does have a good record on gay and lesbian issues, especially for a Republican. Unless my memory fails, even the Human Rights Campaign, normally a Democratic affiliate, has endorsed him for reelection.
Therefore, I doubt if a far right opponent will draw any votes from Smith; bigots wouldn't have voted for him anyway.
Posted by Colorado Pundit @ 08/19/2002 07:51 PM PST
He does have a good record with the gay and lesbian issues, and that's become Mabon's calling card from his right. Without a doubt, Bradbury would have an even stronger record, so it doesn't really help Smith if he has to defend himself on the issue. Smith's record on the environment is not very good-- I'm talking in Oregon. When he was in the State Senate, he and Bradbury were opposing leaders, so this race goes a long ways back, especially battles on the environment.
Posted by myDD @ 08/19/2002 08:38 PM PST
With regard to the state legislature, there is a big, ongoing battle for school funding between Kitzhaber and the anti-tax-at-any-cost-GOP legislature (with the Dems. caught in the middle). I'm hoping that disgruntled parents such as myself will vote some Republicans out of office and perhaps this issue will also draw Democrats to vote in larger numbers. This could be just wishful thinking on my part, of course.
Posted by Oregonian @ 08/19/2002 10:01 PM PST
Oregonian,
How do you feel people will react politically ifthe schools don't opne on time and are overcrowded?
I see this school funding issue potentially becoming the main campaign issue in Oregon state politics this fall. Do you think it helps Democrats or Republicans?
Also I saw in the Oregonian, that Kulongski's camp released a poll done by the AFL-CIO that shows him leading Kevin Mannix 42-31 with other candidate getting single digits. The Mannix campaign wouldn't release its numbers but said it was a closer contest.
We really need new poll numbers from the US Senate race. I am sure Smith is ahead but by how much. How the Senate is going now this race could be the deciding one for control.
Posted by Ced @ 08/20/2002 07:44 AM PST
I'm glad that Bradbury has a clear shot at Smith.
Why the snippy comments about Mediawhores and Alterman?
Minnesota is the rule not the exception of Green Party shenanigans. The Greens seem little more than willing dupes of the GOP.
To me the Greens will always stand for;
Get
Republicans
Elected
Every
November
Posted by TOM @ 08/20/2002 07:51 AM PST
In response to Tom's comments about the Green party, perhaps the Greens wouldn't exist if the Democrats offered a reasonable alternative to the right wing's agenda on so many issues.
During the Bush residency the Dem leadership has been cowardly and complicit. They have been silent over Bush's attacks on civil liberties and more than willing to go to war at the drop of a hat.
The Dems will get liberal votes when their candidates deserve them. Otherwise, it's a free country, so let the Greens bloom.
Posted by Colorado Pundit @ 08/20/2002 08:45 AM PST
Ced: I agree; I've been waiting for more numbers on Smith/Bradbury. So far there has been little noticable sign of a campaign here save for a few TV ads. No lawn signs yet; no bumperstickers; not much discussion. It's frustrating and perplexing because it could be such an important race.
As far as the state legislature, I've heard speculation that the electorate could be more favorable to the Democrats this year (some see a possibility of a Democratic majority there). The Oregonian newspaper (the major one in the state) has criticized the Republican legislators quite a bit, even though it's fairly moderate/conservative in editorial outlook usually. I think the school funding crisis will be slightly advantageous for Democratic prospects.
Posted by Oregonian @ 08/20/2002 09:04 AM PST
Republicans spit venom at Marc Raciot for not running against Max Baucus in Montana and I do the same at John Kitzhaber for not running for Senate in Oregon. Talk about a slam dunk over Smith.
Posted by GaDem @ 08/20/2002 09:52 AM PST
Sorry, I hadn't seen the Weaver announcement until I read the Hotline this afternoon. I found it interesting that Weaver said he declined the nomination because he didn't want to be responsible for forcing Governor Mannix on the state. If this seeming Dem-Green alliance is true, Bradbury is in good shape for the upset.
Posted by AVADem @ 08/20/2002 10:36 AM PST
I suppose that Bradbury is waiting for the 'official' campaign kick-off of Labor Day - at least that's my hope because up to now Bradbury is flying under the radar - Gordon Smith has been running ads for several weeks now.
Money seems to be an issue with Bradbury's campaign which partly explains Senator Tom Daschle's visit last week for a fund-raiser.
Bradbury better get it together and fast.
Posted by J.E.B. @ 08/20/2002 11:09 AM PST
You may not see it nationally, but there are things happening in OR, the Dems have a coordinated effort to take over the leg, and Bradbury will probably just benefit from the coattails of that effort. IT's pretty impressive, the Dems have a huge Bus effort that goes out every saturday and knocks on doors in one toss-up area or another every week for the past month, and up to the election. It started off with just a thousand doors being knocked in a day, last saturday, 10,000 doors were done. TV is vastly over-rated, grassroots means much more. As for Kitzhaber, he's heading up the whole effort, and will do whatever it takes.
I don't think the comparison with Racicot is worthy. Racicot is just a greedy chump that wanted to cash in. Kitzhaber wanted to be there while his son (now 4) is growing up.
I chided Alterman and MWO because they are so over-the-top in their criticism of Greens, that they do more damage than good-- especially to any sort of efforts at working together.
The Greens are mostly a disorganized effort, Nader pretty much used them toward his own agenda-- he's not even a member. I doubt they ever amount to much, given the spoiler role he played them for(which I say was initiated by the Dems in '92 by not including him in the debates)-- just his way of getting back. The Dems just need to put a lawyer on the ticket in 2004, then Nader will back them.... but overall, the duopoly is fracturing, there's no stopping that from occurring.
Posted by myDD @ 08/20/2002 12:54 PM PST
Glad to hear Oregon Democrats have got their act together this fall. I hope Bradbury will benefit from it.
Posted by Ced @ 08/20/2002 01:22 PM PST
mydd: You're right -- "the bus" concept is a good one and has received press here. It reminds me of Wellstone's grassroots efforts. Let's hope all are successful.
Posted by Oregonian @ 08/20/2002 04:43 PM PST
Here's the link for the bus project, for those who haven't heard about it. It's a great idea to get younger people volunteering.
http://www.buspac.org/index.jsp
Posted by Eeephus @ 08/20/2002 07:36 PM PST
