Also Also

Loaded Orygun Launches

For immediate release...Feb 1, 2006

Loaded Orygun Launches, Puts Sight on State Politics

Willamette Valley, OR--Going off literally half-cocked, on February 1, 2006 a void was declared null and filled. Loaded Orygun , the collaborative effort of two bloggers teaming up again after sharing a web advocacy award, promises to quickly become a fruitful hub for all things Oregon Politick. If Attorney General Myers and his staff should happen to embarrass John Ashcroft in front of the Supreme Court again, we'll cover it. As the races for the state House develop into the key election topic of the fall, we'll be there. And we'll be all over the May ballot questions in Portland, especially voter-owned elections.

Crossing paths in cyberspace, native Oregonians Carla (of Preemptive Karma) and Torrid (Also Also) ironically met while separately  covering the gubernatorial election challenge in Washington state. Both writers noticed a vacuum in the blogosphere when it came to serious review of case law, administrative policy, and electoral procedure. Fighting repeated attempts to distort the discussion, Preemptive Karma and Also Also published stories debunking charges of mail ballot fraud, military disenfranchisement, electoral fraud and gross malfeasance by King County. In addition, the sites provided contextual coverage such as interviews with local and state officials, and full liveblogging during the trial. For their work, Preemptive Karma and Also Also were co-honored with the David Niewert Award for Best Reporting From Outside of Washington. 

Wanting to avoid a similar rearguard defense of reality as Oregon enters political season, the two writers recognized a gap in strong advocacy-based Oregon reporting and opinion from the left. In a media environment where Willy Week represents the closest example of modern progressive journalism,  Earl Blumenauer is considered a socialist nutbag, and Lars Larson still gets more ink than Thom Hartmann, Loaded Orygun will become a firm voice for change...well, until change isn't needed, in which case it will become a silent voice of, er, satisfied quietude.

Comments, plaudits and email rage to [email protected]

http://www.loadedorygun.blogspot.com

Carla, of Preemptive Karma--http://preemptivekarma.com
Torrid, of Also Also--http://alsoalso.typepad.com

Hillary Throws Portland a Departing Pander

As readers have no doubt noticed in ever more excited terms, we've been carrying an ad for Hillary Clinton's Portland event. I suppose it's theoretically possible that someone who saw the ad decided to pay $50 minimum to 'nob with the beautiful ones, but I don't generally troll in the high rent district. But we're happy to carry the announcement, and hope everything went smoo...wassat? Wasn't a Bush-quality handpicked crowd?

In her 30-minute speech, Clinton acknowledged the "passions" of those who feel the war is a mistake.   Still, she said it would be a mistake to withdraw American forces while Iraqis are working to form a government.  "If we take precipitous action it could make a bad situation worse," she  said.    

  Clinton was interrupted several times by a dozen or so anti-war protesters who shouted "Bring the troops Home!" and "Hillary supports the war!"  Clinton was undeterred and continued talking through the shouts. She did say the Bush administration needs to give accurate information to the American people and a possible timetable for troop withdrawal. Then she said the United States need to "stay as long as it takes."

You gotta love a town where people will pay 50 bucks to shout down the presumptive nominee of their own party! I certainly understand, and almost completely sympathize--but crazy right wing people don't usually hoot down Olympia Snowe at fundraisers, do they?

Obviously, this whole "continues to support a lame ass war" thing seems to be developing into a problem of sorts for Hillary. Don't let me overstate it--it's two years away and she's already socked away more money than Heidi Fleiss at the Oscar afterparties. But the developing judgement on Clinton from the left seems to be "meh." Here's the problem: so far it's looking like 2 of every 5 voters are going to pull against her from the start. She's got another 2 of 5 viewing her favorably, but not all of them plan on voting for her necessarily. So she's already got a hole in her base.

Clearly she's not stupid; she knows she does not have an appealing position on Iraq to a wide swath of the Democratic faithful--and, it should be noted, a big chunk of independents and even Republicans. But she's stuck with it now, and there's an investment being built in by the DLC establishment that locks the top of the party into this Bushesque policy for Iraq. Why some Democrats plan to run for President suggesting that their Iraq plan is to pretty much do what Bush is now, I cannot fathom. Large majorities are not satisfied with the Bush plan, and to offer yourself as an alternative without changing anything but the nametag is so politically tone-deaf I can't stand it.

Today (Sunday) Hillary's people have changed her ad message. "Thank you, Portland" perhaps? "Suck my left one, you ungrateful bastards?" "Here's 5 grand, now quit crying?" "Bill always told me he never found good tail here, so chew on that?" Nope. And now I've missed it, because it's after midnight. Bollocks! But I can tell you what the headline was: Hillary Clinton -- No on Alito

Well then! I don't know when the Senator got into town, but seemingly the first chance she got to talk to somebody, she made known her vote not just on Alito but on cloture tomorrow morning: No. Joining Dianne Feinstein of California as filibusterers, Clinton seemed to give a boost to netroots activists, reenergizing their flurry of calls and faxes to newly wavering Senators. Which made me wonder: was she trying to soften up the evening's crowd? It's certainly not a play-it-moderate move, and not something she's been high profile about. I'll accept it as sincere for now (and frankly I don't care whether it's completely craven or not at this point; if there are 41 Democrats who oppose Alito there should be 41 voting against cloture.)

If she was trying to soothe the savage breast of the Stumptown Radicalia, I guess it didn't work. With $5,000 of shut-up money to the state party, Hillary was back on the Preordained Tour and Oregonians were left to scratch their mullets and ponder what they'd been fed.

--TJ

New Ad--Jeff Cogen for Multno Commish

I've taken another political ad, this one very local and thus gladly accepted. Jeff Cogen is running for Commisioner 2 in Multnomah, which will be an open seat now held by Serena Cruz. Cogen is Chief of Staff to Dan Saltzman--up for election himself against Amanda Fritz--and thus could find himself losing AND out of a job this fall. I'm not a major fan of Commissioner Saltzman, but I don't know him personally beyond an introduction--and I certainly have no problem with Cogen. I won't yet take an endorsement position (we'll do that likely over at Loaded Orygun; more on that name soon), but something immediately caught my attention:

Multnomah County has almost 4,500 employees, nearly all of whom work on computers that run Microsoft Windows. The County throws away 2 to 3 million dollars a year on licensing payments to Microsoft. As Jeff’s 7-year-old son Alex pointed out, “Bill Gates already has enough money, Dad.” Alex, we couldn’t agree more.

A few million dollars may not mean much to Microsoft, but it’s a very significant sum for the county. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to keep that money here and nurture our local economy in the process: transition the county’s computers to open-source operating systems. The Portland area has already emerged as a leader in open-source computing. It’s time for the county to take advantage of that native expertise and reap the savings that open source can provide.

Switching the county’s computers to open source won’t be free, but it will be far cheaper than what we’re paying now. And the best part is that the money we spend will stay here in the community, supporting an important sector of our local economy and providing jobs for local programmers, developers, and technicians. The governments of Munich, Vienna, and the whole state of Massachusetts have switched to open source. Let’s join them.

Brilliant. Seriously--outstanding idea. How can you lose with Linus Pauling a MAX ride away to help you through it? I do have trepidation about any involvement by the City Tech Services Bureau, however--BTS is still struggling mightily as a central services bureau for the City, and has earned a reputation in some departments as a place where you overpay for shoddy service that is often late and took too much slowdown nonsense. Short term, the transition needed to make  open source work for "ordinary" users would be a logistical nightmare made worse by BTS bureaucracy.

But in the long run, switching to open source would do the City wonders for reducing the throttlelock on IT by the current tech bureau. Centralized IT power in an organization always sounds good, and companies and governments cycle back and forth between the tech shop/home agency IT dichotomy hoping it will prevent redundancy and waste. Putting it all in one shop, to put it bluntly, empowers the geeks. And that's said as a fellow geek. The geeks get gadget-happy and power hungry if left to their own center code. All they do is chew up material and service budgets, and provide cost benefits that are very difficult to quantify. And because only they understand the language they speak to tell you what they think your IT needs are, you just have to nod and hope they know what they're doing.

Open source in the short term would increase reliance on IT services, but eventually its biggest strengths--customizability and extension--would by nature devalue the importance of central IT to an agency's Net profile. One of the things that makes Firefox such a clear winner over IE is all the extensions and high customizability you can achieve. IE by contrast is clunky and necessarily proprietary in function. Open source is that concept writ large--eventually office workers will custom fit their own mini-applets to their work environment.

So that's a very creative and smart idea. It's a tough thing to accomplish, but it's a good, high bar to set. Cogen also pimps wind power bought from Eastern Oregon, another winner:

• Healthy environment. Wind is a clean energy source. It doesn’t contribute to global warming or local air pollution.
• Boosting the local economy. By contracting with Portland-based wind energy developers, the city will support emerging local small businesses.
• Bridging the urban/rural divide. The construction of wind farms in eastern Oregon would create hundreds of much-needed jobs and bolster the tax base in that part of the state. This would improve our area’s relationship with our eastern neighbors and help bridge the urban/rural divide.
• Budgetary predictability. Rather than continue subjecting Portland to the fluctuations of the energy market, wind would give the City guaranteed utility rates for the next 20 years.
• Green leadership. Portland will be the first city in the world to get all of its electricity from wind—cementing its leadership in the emerging green economy and generating tremendous positive publicity.

My favorite benny is the bridging of the urban-rural divide. It's not hippie residue nonsense; there is a very real connection made when rural Oregonians see their products and services bought and sold in the NW corner of the state. The New York Times did a great piece on "local" being the new "organic," and featured Portland's New Seasons markets. The same dynamic Cogen talks about between power supplier and user comes between grocer and farmer:

The opportunity to sell locally has kept some area ranchers from going out of business in Oregon and nearby states. Doc and Connie Hatfield, who founded the Country Natural Beef cooperative in 1986, said the co-op now has 70 ranchers, who raise beef on a vegetarian diet free of hormones, antibiotics and genetically modified feed.

"Nineteen years ago we were going broke," Mr. Hatfield said. "Now we are paying income taxes."

Mr. Hatfield was just as pleased about an unexpected byproduct of selling locally: the bond forged between rural and urban residents.

"Most of the ranchers are rural, religious, conservative Republicans," Mr. Hatfield said. "And most of the customers are urban, secular, liberal Democrats. When it comes to healthy land, healthy food, healthy people and healthy diets, those tags mean nothing. Urbanites are just as concerned about open spaces and healthy rural communities as people who live there. When ranchers get to the city, they realize rural areas don't have a corner on values. I think that's what we are most excited about."

That kind of talk, in this political environment, gives me goosebumps.

So as I said, thanks to Cogen for Commish for supporting Also Also, and while he doesn't get the official nod he's off to a pretty good start. And of course, so far he's the only one who's filed, so he's got that going for him.

--TJ

SCOTUS Upholds Death w/ Dignity; Wyden Gullible

By now most of you have heard that by a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court has upheld Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, preserving the electorally determined right of Oregonians to end their own lives with proper medical assistance. The adventurous may peruse the opinions here (pdf); the rest of you can read the traditional media version any number of places (I chose Reuters).

I'm definitely pleased with the result, and also relieved to discover that angst about when Alito might be confirmed was unfounded. Even if he'd been on the Court already, Kennedy would still have cast the deciding majority vote.  Several thinkers have already posited the idea that Kennedy is now the new O'Connor, and while he has been fairly consistently rightward of O'Connor on many issues, you can never tell how he might view himself now that he's truly the powerbroker in the middle.

As I noted, there was some concern about whether Alito's confirmation would cause a rehearing of the case before the opinions could be released. In the course of investigating that concept, I spoke at length with George Eighmey, Executive Director of Compassion and Choices of Oregon. He graciously responded this morning with a statement on the ruling:

The US Supreme Court ruled today in favor of choice at the end of life. In a 6 to 3 decision, the court ruled the [previous] Attorney General’s attempt to intervene in affairs of the state’s aid-in-dying law has exceeded his authority.

"This is a victory for all Oregonians and in many ways for all citizens in the US," said George Eighmey, executive director of Compassion & Choices of Oregon. Eighmey said "this decision means Americans can live and die as free people, in dignity and according to their own values."

For now Oregon’s aid-in-dying law is safe, terminally ill patients, their families, physicians and pharmacist have no fear of persecution or prosecution from the federal government. But Compassion & Choices of Oregon will continue to defend attempts by Congress to overturn our law.

Good show. For another home-state angle on the ruling and how it fits into national concerns, BlueOregon reminds us that Senator Ron Wyden voted for Chief Justice Roberts, who formed one-third of the dissenting coalition on Gonzales v Oregon--apparently in part on this basis:

Supreme Court nominee John Roberts declared that, in cases dealing with end-of-life care, he would "start with the supposition that one has the right to be left alone," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said after the two met for an hour Tuesday. ...

Roberts told Wyden that he would look closely at the legislative history of federal laws and would be careful not to strip states of powers they traditionally have held -- such as regulating the practice of medicine, Wyden said.

"You don't get the impression from how he answered that he'd let somebody stretch a sweeping statute like the Controlled Substances Act," Wyden said. ...

Roberts said the basic genius of the federal system is that it affords states the ability to approach problems in a way that is best suited to their different needs; imposing uniformity across the nation would stifle the intent of the founding fathers, Wyden said.

That was from back in August. Kari doesn't go much beyond floating the theorem that Wyden was misled, but I'd like to ask the Senator's office what their reaction is to Roberts' vote. I'll let you know what it is, if they're responsive. One can only hope that as Wyden deliberates another floor vote on a SCOTUS nominee, staffers have removed all songs on the Senator's iPod except "Won't Get Fooled Again."

--TJ

Kitz in the Mix? Nope

Well, so much for that prediction. In his inimitable "I'm pretty sure I won't, but maybe I will, although now that I think about it I'm not" way, John Kitzhaber backed away from the political podium and redevoted himself to his public passion--fixing health care:

[H]ealth – not health care, but health – is the first rung on the ladder of opportunity; it is the cornerstone of a democratic society; allowing people to fully participate, to be productive, and to take advantage of the opportunities of upward mobility that lie at the heart of the American Dream.

Yet today those opportunities are being stifled for millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Oregonians who cannot afford the cost of needed medical care, living in constant fear -- one illness away from personal bankruptcy. Health care is the fastest growing cost for both families and businesses, eroding wages and posing a significant barrier to economic growth.

It is also compromising our ability to invest in other social priorities -- further undermining our system of public education which offers the best hope for success and meaningful civic engagement for the fastest-growing portions of the American population.

The cost of health care is also the major driver behind our national debt – the dark legacy we leave to our children. While Congress is preoccupied with the $5 trillion Social Security gap, Medicare – when the baby boom generation retires -- represents over $65 trillion in unfunded entitlements. And this staggering debt is being financed by China and other countries still willing to purchase U.S. securities. We are literally handing our financial future over to our major international competitors, putting at risk the independence and self determination which lie at the heart of our national identity.

I certainly would have supported his bid, and figured that someone who repeatedly flirts with the political limelight like he does, would eventually find himself back in the ring. But listening to what he says, I feel much better that he's NOT running--he's the real deal:

There is no question but that running as a candidate for Governor –as well as holding the office itself – offers a powerful forum in which to advance this cause. Indeed, the media interest in -- and coverage of -- the health care issue has increased dramatically over the past few weeks alone. And we seem to have quite a few representatives from the media assembled here this morning.

On the other hand, our politics today have become largely transactional – “lower my taxes and I will vote for you;” “give me prescription drug coverage and I will vote for you.” And it works the other way around as well – “vote for me and I will cut your taxes;” “vote for me and I will fund schools first.” The problem is that these transactions are all about “me” – and have nothing to do with “us.” They are all about what I can get, not what I can give. They neither foster a sense of the larger public interest; nor do they do advance the common good.

And the fact is that we cannot solve the crisis in our health care system – or in our school system or in our economy or our environment – through this kind of transactional politics because they erode any sense of common purpose and foster the belief that if we can just elect a new governor; a different legislature or a different congress – all our problems will be taken care of. And that is simply not true.

These problems – and especially the crisis in our health care system – cannot be solved without taking some risks, which means they will not be solved by relying solely on a political process which is set up to reward people who play it safe – who ask at every decision point “which transaction offers the safest path to retain my position?”

That means that if we want anything to happen we are going to have to make it happen ourselves. It means that the responsibility to find a sustainable solution does not, in fact, belong to someone else. It belongs to us – to you and me and to people in communities throughout this state and nation. We are not powerless here and should not be without hope. We are limited only by the scope of our imagination and by the depth of our commitment to one another.

Clearly this man's head is screwed on far too well, and is far too focused on one issue, to waste him on the political process. I'm shaking my head now, wondering why on earth I wanted him to be sullied by another run. His energies are far better directed to his passion and expertise, and the Archimedes Movement is bound to be worthy of the name under his leadership.

But I'm going to hang onto the phrase "transactional politics," because it perfectly encapsulates the entire pay-for-play system we suffer under now. The shallow view of Abramoffukah is that politicians have put themselves up for sale and lobbyists are pounding on the doors to buy, like parents at Toys R Us waiting for them to open on Black Friday. But Kitz is right--it goes beyond that, to the way that politicians succor favor from ordinary voters by promising tax breaks or special projects in their neighborhood, and the way that voters expect a specific tangible benefit from their vote as opposed to solid but generic leadership.

So Ted gets an easier  shot at another term, and while he's clearly breathing a sigh of relief [reg may be reqd], hopefully he took a minute to think about Kitzhaber's reasoning and will ask himself how he can disengage from transactional politics and--essentially--make himself too good for his job. We can only hope.

--TJ

Kitz in the Mix? Announcement Tomorrow

The waiting, definitely the hardest part, appears nearly over. Tomorrow morning at 11AM, speaking from a health clinic in Old Town's "charity alley," former governor John Kitzhaber will let us know whether he plans on taking the job again:

       Kitzhaber is keeping his decision under wraps for now, but the location of his news conference could be telling - it's a health clinic for low-income people on Burnside Street.

       The former emergency room physician has said in recent weeks that being governor again might help him "jump start" a renewed debate over transforming the nation's health care system to make medical care more affordable and accessible for all Oregonians.

       However, Kitzhaber also has been promoting a sweeping health care reform proposal for the state that could wind up on the November ballot, an effort that wouldn't require him to run against Gov. Ted Kulongoski - a fellow Democrat - in the May primary election.

For those of you scoring at home, that's two "he will" paragraphs, followed by one "he won't." The O's brief hitter on the subject tonight has no "he will" lines, but does quote the man himself saying it would be tough to both run for office and manage a health care ballot initiative. On the other hand, if you're governor you get to make initiatives anytime you want. On the other other hand, the plan he's got in mind is one big political minefield that even a Democratic statehouse might be loathe to touch. But what's the best part about the two stories? They're written by the same guy!

I suppose it's only proper to offer a prediction, and that prediction is that I think he's in. Contrary to Cain's assertion in the KATU piece, I think appearing at a low-income health clinic could presage either kind of answer. He could say "these are the kind of people who are being ignored by our state government, and that's why I'm running," or he could say "I tried once to get things done, and most of the time I spent swatting away crappy bills from the Republicans. This is where things get done, and this is where I can do the most good, which is why I'm not running." However, I think the natural tendency if you're not running is not to make too much of a deal out of the announcement--especially for someone who apparently doesn't need his ego stroked (although more on that in a moment). You might have your family around you and appear somewhere more ceremonial or casual. If you are looking for political symbology from your venue, you're trying to project an active agenda (and thus would be running for office to achieve it).

In any case he's certainly drawn the decision out longer than many people (cough--Vicki Walker!--cough) might like, and the party is basically treading water until they have a scenario. Kitzhaber has visited just about anyone who might care, and they all say the same thing: we won't say who we'd endorse (because we don't want to be up the creek with Ted if Kitz says no), but we can't help but shuffle our feet in the dirt and smile shyly when Kitz talks to us. We think he's real purty.

When the SEIU, the teachers, the environmentalists and the tribes are winking and nudging like Eric Idle, batting their eyes as you talk about giving the native Oregonian animals and plants full health care and a growing wage--and you go seeking that out--that's got to suggest some kind of ego. He is so smooth and earnest and well balanced that he doesn't project the typical politician's love of his own voice, second only to the voices of others talking glowingly about him. But here's a guy who left on top of his game in order to get away from the life, and now he's a hair's breadth from getting back into it, like some cowboy Corleone. Underneath that craggy exterior is someone who likes to be in the middle of things, thinking he can fix them. That kind of guy doesn't hold a press conference to say No.

So I won't announce my endorsement at this time, but if he happens to run I'll vote for him.

--TJ

The Debate on Measure 37 Continues

Rather than attempt to recreate the points and discussion over here, let me point you to Russell Sadler's recent BlueOregon column on the continuing debate over Measure 37, Oregon's land-use compensation initiative that was recently overturned in Marion County. Sadler's primary motive is to call attention to the rather amateurish recall effort, aided by the state's Constitution Party (think Judge Roy Moore), but the copious commentary broadens to an evaluation of both Judge James' ruling, and the common-man principles on which both M37 and the ruling are grounded.

Yours truly is one of those commenters, and so I'll point you in that direction for my thoughts on the matter within the context of other viewpoints. There's only a little trollage; most of the discussion is serious and substantive--and for earlier stabs at the ruling from when it was first issued, here's a previous Sadler column.

--TJ

Did Minnis sic EPA on Portland?

Wow, the Portland City Council is really becoming dogged at investigating those who appear to want to cost the city money. Yesterday's Oregonian fronted the story of Wednesday's meeting in which commissioners, particularly Erik Sten, challenged PGE officials to explain why they kept money charged to ratepayers as utility tax. The exchange got quite testy, as you can see if you watch the video of the meeting.

Today brings more news of a different sort of antagonism--the report in today's Portland Tribune suggesting that House Speaker Karen Minnis encouraged the federal EPA to seek punishment against Portland for its sewage runoff problems:

During the 2001 session of the Oregon Legislature, rural Republicans and agricultural interests, citing news reports of farmers getting fined for letting a relatively small amount of cow feces to reach rivers, started complaining that Portland was getting fined less for doing a lot worse. House Speaker Minnis sponsored a resolution that asked President Bush and Congress to fine Portland for its sewage overflows. The measure — House Joint Memorial 13 — passed the House in a fiercely partisan vote, over Democrats’ objections. According to documents obtained by Wyden, a Minnis aide faxed a copy of the draft resolution to the EPA on March 29, 2001.
   Because the measure was never approved by the state Senate, it had no more legal significance than a used tissue. Legally speaking, “it had no impact,” says lobbyist John DiLorenzo, who conducted research for backers of the resolution. “It was never adopted.”
    This distinction appears to have been lost on staff at the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice. Even though it failed in the state Senate, Ciannat Howett, a senior enforcement attorney at Regional 10, sent an e-mail to her colleagues on March 26, 2001, that said the resolution “provides a window of strong support by the Oregon Legislature for EPA action against Portland for its CSO violations.”

Minnis aides both deny that her fax was the impetus for federal action, and call Commissioner Sam Adams "desperate" for "trying to pin Portland's environmental problems on the Speaker..."
Of course what he's actually doing is pinning the problem of being prosecuted on Minnis, for environmental problems the City is actively engaged in addressing.

There is background in the story to the effect that the EPA had asked its field offices to suggest cities with water runoff problems, and that region HQ in Seattle had reported Portland as one of those cities. But it was not until the Minnis fax that wheels appeared to begin turning towards punishing the city for those problems. And while there is some dispute over what was said, it seems clear that at a minimum, Republican lawmakers from rural parts of the state were intent on seeking punishment for the city as some kind of payback for infractions their own constituents had been noted for.

Minnis clearly knew that Portland was fully underway in its efforts to stem sewage runoff, and her ubsubtle statement to the feds of Republican support for action against the city suggests a partisan, rather than environmental, motive. Thankfully it appears that after intense lobbying by Council, EPA is now willing to extend deadlines for remediation, past the point at which the Big Pipe is scheduled to be finished.

Problem or not, there's simply something entirely unseemly about Minnis trying to get the EPA to force penalties on the largest city that she supposedly represents, or to encourage one part of the state to antagonize another as political payback. Throw another arrow in the quiver being assembled to unseat Minnis in next fall.

--TJ

Congrats to the Portland Pilots!

I'm a little late in offering the now well-known news that the UP women's soccer team has won the national championship for the second time in four years. I watched much of the Penn State game on Friday, and a fair bit of the final's second half--but I fell in love with their style of play against a very good Notre Dame team last week. It is collegiate soccer no doubt, with more frantic clears and mis-hit passes than either the pros or the international game, but the Pilots are as talented an assemblage of amateur soccer players as I've ever seen.

They work so well together, particularly IMO on defense (although their offense was devastating this year, led by Christine Sinclair). Time and time again over the last two weeks it seemed that opposing attackers began to approach the penalty area and discovered that they had run out of options. Opponents rarely made clean breaks to the wings in order to serve an unmolested cross into the box, and on that cross no one inside the box found themselves without a marker. And if they did happen to get a shot off, Cori Alexander made the critical stop with an aggressive leap or a full extension dive. They really do play high quality soccer, and in a game with only a few climaxes of play, the flow of play is perhaps more important for entertainment than in any other sport. If you've got a crappy game of soccer, the lack of goals makes it seem all the worse.

The Oregonian did a pretty good job of catching the zeitgeist this morning, at least having the sense to splash it on the front page and across the full top fold of the sports page. They also put together a couple of nice sidebar articles  (see the items in the link marked parts 1, 2, 3), but as usual the one from the print version that I want to share with you is nowhere to be found.

When I came back to Portland in 2002, it was the last year of Clive Charles' coaching career, and also his life. He died before the season began in 2003. I went to the Portland Building to see them place the trophy in a temporary display--me and about 10 other non UP, non media persons. (I suspect a few more will show up at Pioneer Square on Friday). I knew who Charles was, but in person he was larger than life. It was clear the players idolized him not just as a coach but as a personal guide and mentor. I thanked him for his contributions to the city and soccer, and he thanked me in a quiet but direct voice. It was obvious he was sick, but he couldn't have looked more pleased to speak to me or anyone.

And this article that remains hidden in The O's ether was testament to the lasting effects of Charles' legacy, both professionally and personally. Alexander did not know Clive, but speaks about how much he influence her life anyway. Senior Lindsey Huie has CMC tattooed on her foot, along with footprints to symbolize the mark he left on her. To read about how much everyone involved still included the memory of Charles in their celebrations was something I found very moving. It's always a revelation to discover people whose lives had that much power for others, and helps restore faith in the power of humanity during times when we can be forgiven for having lost so much of that faith. So to everyone involved with the Pilots' success, the highest congratulations and thanks for enriching our community. We're very proud.

--TJ

Kitzhaber Signals He's Mulling Guv Run

There aren't many more pointed ways to announce that you are seriously considering running against the incumbent governor, than to call up the incumbent governor and tell him. And on Thursday that's exactly what former OR goobernor John Kitzhaber did, telling Ted Kulongoski he was concerned particularly about the budget setbacks in the Oregon Health Plan that Kitz largely authored. His former chief of staff, Steve Marks, confirms that it's a pretty big signal:

"I don't think you make a decision to call the governor and have this discussion with him without understanding the seriousness of this possible step," [Marks] said.

Kulongoski's spokeswoman, Anna Richter Taylor, confirmed that her boss and Kitzhaber spoke Thursday morning about Kitzhaber possibly running for governor, among other subjects.

"I don't think that was the sole focus of the conversation," Richter Taylor said. "They talked about health care and issues facing the state."

Of course his running wasn't the sole focus--I'm sure the first half of the conversation was more about questioning WTF Ted was doing, as a setup to dropping the bomb. There's no real gracious way to tell someone you think he's doing a sucky job and it's making you feel like you have to come out of retirement, so I have to wonder what kind of weekend Kulongoski is having. Perhaps he is bowling angrily somewhere, cursing the fate that has led him to be challenged harder from his own party than from Republicans.

Speaking of his own party, this would appear to be nearly all that Vicki Walker needs to drop out, although she'll probably continue to wait for the official notice from Kitzhaber. The timing of these events seems clearly related: Walker tells Kitzhaber she's ready to run, Kitzhaber tells her he's thinking of running, Walker announces publicly she'll back out if he does but needs an answer soon, Kitzhaber drops a big signal he will--all happening in the space of about three days. That makes the Kulongoski call a "courtesy call," but the courtesy extended is actually to Walker.

No word so far on what this does to Peter Sorenson's candidacy, although he would be trailing anyone in the race at this stage no matter who is in, so he's likely to keep his hat in. But 2006 just got a whole lot more interesting.

Update 12/5 4pm--
The Douglas County News-Review is not enthusiastic about another Kitz-run, although the editorialist seems hard pressed to say why other than a sense of miasma. While acknowledging the he probably represents a tougher GOP opponent than Kulongoski, the N-R suggests he's too burned out and would lack the passion to lead, plus that he's too environmentally progressive. He certainly sounds passionate to me--it seems he thinks his health plan baby is being drowned, and he wants to fix it. He may also see a chance to govern with a full Democratic majority in both houses, allowing him to shed the "Dr. No" tag as a veto machine from his last terms in office.

--TJ