You left out Kucinich bringing forward articles of impeachment:

http://kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/documents.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_House_Resolution_333 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJYbgouqlMw

Yes, however, the state legislature did not modify our state election law deadline for filing to appear on the Oregon ballot for the office of President in Fall 2008. As the law stands, with the Republican party ignoring the deadline secured in Oregon state law, the Republican nominating convention will take place after the filing deadline. Meaning, as the law currently stands, there will not be a Republican candidate for President on the Fall 2008 ballot. I find this quite amusing. The Republicans ignored and flouted the law, therefore I would agree with not modifying the law to include them.

Not too many scandals? Well, what about the the continuing fallout from the former Governor's criminal relationship with a 14 year old on our current Governor? The former's crimes may well cast a shadow on all Democrats and hopes for progressive change since they will definitely be in the news in 2008 given Sheriff G's imminent, albeit belated, political self-destruction. Not the most important news in Oregon in 2007, but come on, it's too important to omit from a year in review.

Jeff: also among the signal accomplishments of the 2007 Legislature were the bills slapping new regulations on the predatory patrol towing industry (SB 116 and SB 431), arguably the most popular bills in the building. The new regs take effect January 1. Prior to this legislation, the industry beat back every attempt to change status quo.

regarding "...gays and lesbians in committed relationships will be regarded as equal with heterosexuals before the law..."

This should read instead "...gays and lesbians in committed relationships will be regarded as equal with heterosexuals before Oregon law..."

Federal law still will not recognize us, so hundreds major benefits that apply to heterosexual couples, like social security survivor benefits, will still not apply to gay and lesbian couples.

Sadly I know about this first hand, as my partner of 20 years died in October. Rest in peace. :(

DavidS: Lars Larson himself, on the air and in the Oregonian today, admitted that "evidence is lacking" in his charges against Kulongoski.

So my question to you is how is it that a bottom-feeding, right-wing hate radio hack spewing lies to the bottom 29% cast a shadow on all Democrats and hopes for progressive change?

"Lars Larson himself, on the air and in the Oregonian today, admitted that "evidence is lacking" in his charges against Kulongoski."

Many years ago, Lars Larson was a well-regarded KPTV reporter. He chose to change to being a talk show host. He has gotten increasingly bitter over the years. Does he even still live in Oregon? Why should anyone else care about what he cares about unless he has documented evidence? Has he run out of targets? Is he even capable anymore of stating the affirmative--such as who he likes in the Iowa Caucuses, or whether he believes Gordon Smith deserves re-election? Does he have a clue about why the 2006 elections turned out the way they did?

After so many months of "everyone should take Leonhardt at his word", I finally read the affadavit online. It wasn't the most clearly written, evidence based document I have ever seen. There were parts of it I would question, not the least of which was the reported breakfast with Guisto at Salem Center.

I have lived in Salem since before Salem Center existed, and didn't know breakfast was ever served there. Perhaps once there was a restaurant where breakfast was served (there is one space which has had a series of restaurants over the years---somehow the food court doesn't seem the ideal place for such a conversation even if any of those places serves breakfast) but that detail was a last straw for me.

If the whole case rested on the Leonhardt affadavit and nothing else, it was a pretty thin case. Anyone who remembered Al French and the trouble he got into for hearsay in his affadavit to be in the 2004 Swifty ad has the right to be skeptical of any other affadavit.

Well, I guess I just have a different view of scandal. To me, if someone knew about a sexual relationship between an adult and a child and did nothing about it, that would qualify as a scandal. I wouldn't limit scandal to graft and corruption.

Haven't seen the article in today's paper Scott. I'll look at it and am pleased that Lars is eating crow. Hopefully this scandal will fade from view. A question for you: Do these allegations strengthen progressive politics in this State? Have no effect? I think I read about these allegations in the Oregonian, which reaches more than the 29% with whom you strongly disagree. I could be wrong, but I think the Governor is the most prominent Dem in this State. I think these allegations cast a shadow. I don't think they cripple his effectiveness. Mostly I just thought they deserved a mention in a year in review article.

Happy New Year to All. Interesting process making comments and seeing the responses. Probably put my time elsewhere in the future. Not sure any of this discussion will help change things in a progressive direction.

The sweetest gift of the year was the "downfall" of Karen Minnis. Thinking back on it, having her win her re-election only to suffer by having her wings clipped was truly inspiring. For so long, this woman had caused hardship for this state by single-handedly and arrogantly refusing to allow issues to the floor even though they had majority support.

I give the Legislature a "B" grade for this passing session. I would have liked to have seen some sort of referendum reform to limit out-of-state funding that keeps Sizemore in business. As it is, we will likely have twenty or more ballot measures to consider in 2008, most of them funded by out-of-state conservative interest groups trying to use Oregon as a testing ground... a gentler version of Iraqi politics, perhaps?

"I give the Legislature a "B" grade for this passing session. I would have liked to have seen some sort of referendum reform to limit out-of-state funding that keeps Sizemore in business."

The Legislative Commission wrestled with this, but unfortunately in some cases the money has passed through several committees by the time it is spent, making it hard to even list the true funders of petition gathering (one of the PCOL wishes) in the Voters Pamphlet.

I'm not sure how much control the Republicans really had prior to 2007, even though they controlled at least one house of the legislature for a decade or so. When you haven't had the governorship for over 20 years and you haven't held a meaningful state office for almost as long, you're pretty much on the fringes of the process.

That said, I'm pleased with the political demise of Karen Minnis. It couldn't happen to someone more deserving. There would be a world shortage of ill will if she got all that commodity that should be coming her way. It's one thing to be resolute and determined about one's views, and to manipulate the levers of power appropriately in order to achieve legislative goals. It's another thing to be arrogant, mean-spirited, and self-serving. Not only Ms. Minnis, but several of her top aides, acted as though associating with regular Oregon citizens was beneath them. Even when I agreed with her (rarely) on an issue, she and her policy people were so insufferable that it made me wonder about my views. It's almost too bad that she isn't forced to remain in a Dem-controlled legislature where all that negative Karma could catch up with her.

I don't know who's running for the D-49 seat, but I would hope that Rob Brading would give it another run. If anyone deserves the opportunity to run (and, most likely, win) in a race without facing one of the most powerful members of the Oregon House, it's Mr. Brading. He may not have won, but he was certainly responsible for setting up her downfall.

Finally, a note of agreement about the passing of Molly Ivins. Such a pleasure to read, and to hear on various news shows. Her sharp wit, great common sense, empathy for the less fortunate, and appreciation for civil political discourse are so much missed. Let's hope that the Dems ascendency to the Presidency in 2009 ushers in a too-long delayed emphasis on medical research. Redirecting the wasteful spending in Iraq and promoting embryonic stem-cell research will help us find a cure for major diseases such as the one that killed Molly Ivins and many others.

It is news worthy of a year in review topic that Lars would admit he doesn't have the evidence for his charge against the Gov. ""The issue is one of logic, it's not evidentiary", Larson said.

Oh really, we are supposed to take Lars Larson's logic at face value? When was the last time he gave those who are not his loyal following any reason to take him seriously?

The whole thing was a mess from the beginning. Had Leonhardt filed an official report with any agency, that would be evidence. Otherwise, the whole story sounds like "Believe us! ", which people have the right to accept or reject.

Somehow I doubt that folks outside of Portland or outside of the social circles involved in a Christmas party like the one Leonhardt described (people with work and family concerns, perhaps with jobs which are physically or otherwise challenging) sat around with their friends saying "the speech writer should be believed about whether the Governor and his state police driver knew decades after the fact about a horrible crime done in the 1970s by a man who was later elected Governor".

Also interesting is that I cannot provide a link. There the story is in the print edition, Page 1 carried over to P. 13. But don't look on Oregonlive.com for the story in "All Today's News Headlines" because it isn't there.

Absent a ruling by the Bar examiners, the end of the year should be the end of the story.

A concise review of the political year at the federal level might be: Congressional Democrats found abundant excuses for not confronting the outlaw Bush administration.

Ron Wyden getting his hat handed to him at his Portland Town Hall meeting by an angry crowd.

You also forgot the story of David Bragdon endorsing Steve Novick.

But if this review is based on BlueOregon archives, I guess that makes sense, because BlueOregon never covered it.

Ya know, Kevin, there's an old saying that says if you keep your mouth shut, people can only suspect you're a fool, but when you open your mouth, well...

For any others out there who are as ignorant as Kevin: Bragdon is the elected president of Metro. BlueOregon has 36 posts referring to him, the last one about his funny/serious press release.

Metro is the government representing Oregon's three largest counties. Bragdon was elected as its president.

Another passing of significance -- Lucy Lahr, former leader of SEIU, board member of Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network, and much more, died in November after being struck by a hit and run driver.

Lucy was one of those activists whose commitment to social justice and compassion balanced so gracefully that she always had a kind word, even under the most stressful of times.

Did you know that all nine (9) Federally Reconized Tribes in Oregon have endorsed Senator Gordon Smith for his campaign for the U.S. Senate. Gordon Smith has placed and brought Indian Issues/Treaties and Sovereignty to Washington D.C.

The Tribes have endorsed him and most also endorsed Governor Ted Kulongoski here recently for the Governors election (with the exception of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) who continue to support the Republican party.

All of this goes to show we all can be non-partisan when it comes to Tribal Government and the State of Oregon and U.S. Governments Trust Responsibility and Obligation to Indians Tribes across Oregon and the Nation.

Actually, Jeff, I didn't really expect you to cover the Bragdon endorsement in this year-end post. It was simply an opportunity to note that BlueOregon gave absolutely no notice at all to this good news for Novick -- not with a short "in the news," not with an "elsewhere" when The Oregonian reporters published a brief notice Dec. 20. Nada! Zip! Zero! Zilch! Squat!

I don't know that it's a conspiracy. But I imagine if you're not all that motivated to find and print good news about Novick, things like this will slide by. (But BO did, quite revealingly, have time to find and front page a relatively "newsless" post from a Merkely diary on Huffpo).

"My wish for 2008: that the blogosphere can get over this childish scorekeeping about supposed slights leveled at one candidate or another ... can we get over this crap please."

Easy enough, Jeff. Simply put your money where your mouth is and try as hard as possible to make BlueOregon a "progressive" blog and not an official Jeff Merkley campaign site.

That will be difficult because you, Kari and Nick are all obviously Merkley supporters and Novick-supporting Charlie Burr seems to mostly post about Obama (or great tunes form Youtube :)

Despite the lopsided number of BO founders, editors and fellows who support Merkley, I think you're all professional enough to at least give BlueOregon the appearance of objectivity and fairness. But that's not going to happen if you ignore stuff like this endorsement and then turn around and front page what is basically Merkley campaign literature.

Putting the tiny amount of effort into an "in the news" about the Bragdon endorsement would have gone a long way toward doing that. But BO failed on this one. I think that's a fair critique.

"Is there anyone regularly reading Blue Oregon who doesn't know that A) I strongly support Jeff Merkley and B) that I've got a blog that's fairly well known."

Kevin, see my earlier comment about people only being able to suspect you're a fool if you keep your mouth shut.

All the fuss over the Bragdon endorsement obscures a truth often ignored in blogs like this:

The nominee for US Senate (and any other contested primary) will not be chosen by outsiders, but by people more preoccupied at the moment with: whether it snowed at their home or between home and work cleanup if they had holiday company, unpacking if they visited family elsewhere *children home on vaction, end of year activities, etc.

Each candidate has something they need to work on: Merkley needs voice coaching as Novick has by far the better speaking voice Novick needs to remember that he probably knows more about politics than any 5 people in a general audience, and tailor his remarks accordingly. (Example, in talking about health care, either Former Gov. Kitzhaber or Dr. Kitzhaber rather than "Kitzhaber says...".) When I heard him speak earlier this year, I noticed that several times in a speech to an audience containing voters who may have been in middle school when John Kitzhaber was governor. Since it was Marion County Demoforum where he spoke, I wonder how many of those young people are even aware that Metro is a Portland-area regional government. How is that relevant to their lives?

Pat, Steve has not exactly been ignored---check out http://www.blueoregon.com/2007/04/mydd_interview_.html

and he has a wonderful piece full of Novick wit titled "Why Meek should not inherit the earth"

I found this by typing his name into the Blue Oregon Google window. Something like a page and a half of Novick citations, even if the Bragdon endorsement wasn't posted.

But even if BO promised that for every Merkley post there would be a Novick post, that would not win the primary. I took a friend who has turned 19 recently to hear Steve at Marion Demoforum because I wanted the perspective of someone who had NOT known him for years.

Reactions were along the lines of "nice guy but...", not being impressed by the allusion to Gordon Smith and Wizard of Oz (nice guy, bad wizard/senator).

With all due respect, Pat, that is the sort of person who needs to be convinced to vote in the Democratic primary. And if you think BO publishing every nice thing about Steve on this blog (as if it doesn't show up on LO or elsewhere) is really that important to Steve's campaign, I have an Eagles song to dedicate to you,

Get Over It

I agree with Jeff on this.

this isn't just a site for the very avid fans of Steve Novick.

I agree. Moreover, the avid fans of Steve Novick already know about the Bragdon endorsement. I'm thinking of the more casual readers who get political news from BlueOregon.

I'm still not sure why the Bragdon endorsement got --and continues to get-- zero notice here.

(Now Jeff, imagine you're an Oregonian reporter with exponentially more readers watching your every move for fairness).

The amount of Traffic the Huffinggton Post gets is irrelevant to the news value of Merkley's diary there (and re-posted here at BlueOregon). It was campaign literature, nothing more. It's been up quite awhile and nobody seems to have found it worthy of the simplest comment -- even crazy-for-Merkley Kevin. So, with all due respect, your promise about never being boring is a little off the mark here.

In regards to news value, The Oregonian's Harry Esteve covered the Bragdon endorsement of Novick here more than a week ago.

BlueOregon failed to make any mention at all. And instead of accepting a little fair criticism or considering correcting your holiday-chaos oversight, you get all defensive.

Kevin, perhaps you missed it when I wrote this: "Actually, Jeff, I didn't really expect you to cover the Bragdon endorsement in this year-end post."

As per the usual, you're a day late and a dollar short when it comes to keeping up with the discussion. Again, I'd have to refer you to my previous advice about the virtues of silence lest you confirm people's suspicions that you are quite possibly a fool.

Well, I think BlueOregon compares more accurately with The Oregonian's blog than it does to a Pulitzer winning statewide newspaper with hundreds of thousands of readers, so we'll have to disagree here.

Good to hear traffic size matters, so if an article about Novick from Good Magazine was reprinted on Huffington Post, you'd cover that? Nope.

Or if Harper's Magazine wrote about Novick, you'd cover that? Nope.

Or if the state's largest newspaper prints news about a Novick endorsement on its website, you'd cover that? Nuh-uh.

But if the Merkley campaign posts its literature on Huffpo diary, that's news? Yep.

Strange Days indeed. Must be Christmas fever.