The legislature would be lucky to get Nelson. He's not partisen and focuses on sounf public policy. That's why he has support across party lines in his district.

But that didn't stop you from playing your blue games.

Ben,

I have been to one of Nelsen's campaign functions. When you talk to him, one of the first things he does is personally attack Nick Kahl right off the bat.

I have heard his "we need both voices in the legislature" spiel, which is really "please please elect me because I have been on the school board for a decade" type crap.

Since Nelsen is so inclined to take it down into the gutter, then let me retort:

John Nelsen looks exactly like a blonde-haired, good ole boy version of Herman Munster.

Nelsen called the wolves out, he does not and cannot call them back in.

P.S. Get the spelling of his surname right. BTW, the only ones with the "blues" come November will be the Repubs when the Dems have 34+ seats as we all know that there are 1 or more RINOS who will vote with the Dems when it matters.

Well well youngster,

You managed to spew blue without saying anything at all. Like I said Nelsen has broad support across party lines. For good reasons. He's a fabulous family man, great leader and advocates for truly sound policies.

You call him a Munster because he is 7 feet tall. I assume you thought you were being clever or witty?

YoungMoonbats are neither.

As far as his experience? There's many current legislators who have never chaired or managed a $104 million budget. In fact may current legislators are walking incompetents whohave no business pretending to be leaders.

Can we ban the term "broad support across party lines" from this blog? I am so sick of empty lines like that. Show me a candidate who does not claim to have "broad support across party lines." Seriously.

And, I might add, "For good reason" is not a complete sentence. Nor is "As far as his experience?" a complete sentence. Further, you don't "chair" a budget. As for that last sentence, well, where do I start? I think I must be tired and a little snarky. I am serious about that "broad support across party lines" crap though.

Ben:

Thanks for bringing up Nelson's completely inept management of a major school budget. He touts his school board service as the major reason to elect him -- but he's been completely asleep at the switch as the board chair while the district is heading toward bankruptcy....

"community organizer" of him, isn't it? Republicans are rather against that sort of thing these days, according to Saint Sarah.

No that's your spin. Palin, having been a community organizer herself at several levels is not against "that sort of thing" at all.

Unlike most of the sitting legislature Nelsen advocates genuine performance. Your spin on his partisan status is as accurate as your take on Palin.

Bugs, It is Nelsen's management, including hiring a CPA to audit the books, that is purging the district of an inept superintendent and preventing the district from heading toward bankruptcy. That's the facts. Blue it up all you want. That's what you do.

Ben:

He is indeed on the board that oversees a $104 million budget. However, that board also oversees a multi-million dollar deficit due to mismanagement.

How much responsibility does Mr. Nelsen have of that?

How accountable is he for the consistent failure to meet state and federal performance standards? See 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 state report cards.

I can find neither success in his accomplishments nor definition of his policies. I would expect to see literature and ads to better educate me as a voter and constituent. Instead, I learn from his attack ad that Nick Kahl is an educated and talented citizen.

Hey Ben, If John Nelsen advocates for truly sound policy, perhaps his advertising budget would be better spent outlining his ideas. His ad doesn't say anything about his ideas, beliefs, or plans. It simply attacks his opponent for being a resident of Portland, a jazz musician, and, heaven forbid, a citizen pursuing higher education. As a supporter of Mr. Nelsen, perhaps your time would be better spent helping your candidate to focus on the issues rather than cruising the websites of the opposition.

I'm supporting Nick Kahl, because he would finally bring to Distr. 49 the type of representation and leadership that it needs. The improtance of Dist. 49 to the Portland Metro has been neglected for too long. Nick knows that all things worth while, such as strong, safe, enlghtened communities and neighborhoods, are based on the involvement and efforts of people. During this campaign, Nick has already started to build a citizen-based working framework to make Distr. 49 a model for the State. He is building partnerships now, during the campaign, with those who live and work in the District, with business owners, with local government leaders, with the leaderships of neighboring districts. Nick Kahl is running a positive issues-based campaign. Come January, he will be ready to take Distr. 49 to a better future in partnership with its residents. I'm hopeful for a better future now that young, smart, dedicated and hard working candidates like Nick have come forward to unit us rather than the "same old, same old" candidates and politics of the past.

If you've ever been to one of John Nelsen's events you would know that he is uniformily endorsed by a crap load of D's holding elected office in east county. D's and OEA members were thick at the event I went to. The harder rights side of the Republican party actually worry about John who is probably a better Democrat while still be conseravtive than any "Pro-Business" D this blog always floats out there.

He also says nothing but nice things about his opponent other than the opponent has no record of service. That is what I noticed so I doubt you actually had Nelsen doing anything other than talking about the Reynolds school district which supposedly has been improving steadily beyond similarly situated schools with the use of charter schools.

You would also know that John Nelsen's campaign manager is a Democrat and Obama-loony to boot (they were on TV together debating presidential politics a week ago). It came as a surprise to many.

If you watched Nick Kahl you would know he organizes all of his volunteer efforts from within the City of Portland within blocks of the Morrison Bridge. The rumor in our party is that Nick Kahl lives on his brothers couch and spent most of his adult life in New Mexico. He is unqualified for office and that is probably the real issues underlined by the add. I also have been told he is pro-tax increase and has said publicly that Oregon's labor unions did not get enough from the legislature last budget cycle. So yeah, a bag tax would not be that far off.

Nick Kahl is a union stooge and a straw man ran for an open seat.

John is moderate.

Kari Chrisolm is a hypocrit in the mold of Chuck Adams. Typcial for consultants who talk about high roads only when shooting out hit pieces.

Nick Kahl is a warm body. He almost lost to a real East County Democrat who raised next to nothing to Nick Kahl's union buy in for him. If you are pointing at John Nelsen and Nick Kahl and don't see the stark sorry lack of anything in Nick Kahl I'd be shocked. I just hope John Nelsen does the WWeek endorsement interview so I can see him mop the floor with that loser you seem to prop up Nick Kahl.

If Obama was not running his 50 state strategy this election this race wouldn't even be a question. Nick Kahl's only hope is liberal media bias and Obama's coat tails.

Palin, having been a community organizer herself at several levels is not against "that sort of thing" at all.

Ben, you're just outright lying.

Sarah Palin has been a beauty queen, a sportscaster, a city council member, a mayor, and a governor. In no way has she ever been any sort of "community organizer" when she wasn't advancing her own career.

To get back on topic, Nick Kahl is an upstanding young leader who is running a terrific campaign. Being a jazz musician of that caliber is just another way that he is well-rounded and refined.

I kinda feel sorry for Ben.

Judging by his typing skills, he's a young, (presumably) idealistic Republican who's trying to defend his candidate in unfriendly territory.

But he's fallen victim to the Republican tactic of "say it and it must be true." Republicans have abandoned all pretense of citing sources or doing any actual research when they make statements... and poor Ben is now growing up without the capacity for logical reasoning.

So Ben, I offer this exercise:

Go back and source the claims you have made. For example...

You say he's got "support across party lines." OK, so cite some examples of people who hold Democratic office who support him. I see on his website there are almost exclusively Republican organizations supporting him and plenty of nonpartisan officeholders.

You say he advocates for "sound public policies." OK, so explain his health care stances. How will he pay for the tax incentives he intends to offer to businesses? What will be cut in its stead? How can he both oppose insurance mandates, but then say that he wants to make a wider variety of plans available?

Just remember, Ben, that simply stating something like, "everyone knows that Democrats secretly hate Oregon" (not an actual quote) isn't quite a solid argument point unless it's backed up by data or a referenced (hopefully reputable) source.

Keep plugging away, because once you get to high school, you'll find that teachers simply don't accept unbased personal statements as sufficient supporting evidence for most writing projects.

Good luck!

Wow...hard to know where to begin. First of all, I'm the Democratic Party District Leader here in 49, so I am, shall we say, fairly familiar with this race. Let's start, shall we?

DarePDX....Nick Kahl's campaign office is located at 107 East Historic Columbia River Hwy in TROUTDALE. He has NO OFFICE in PORTLAND. Get a clue. Did you confuse him with someone else? Nelsen sure did with that idiot ad. Seriously, he made a fool of himself in East County with it. Nick was in a jazz band....oooohhhh, scary! (Hint to Nelsen campaign: treating your potential constituents like they are stupid is not the way to win votes.)

Nick is running because he truly wants to give back to his community and he wants to help folks in East County not only survive, but thrive. He wants to represent them, fight for them, and help them build stronger schools, safer communities and better lives.

John Nelsen can't stay with the issues because John Nelsen's stance on the issues don't play well out here. He's advocating a sales tax, of all things. SALES. TAX. In East County. Where the polling shows it to be the least popular of any area in Mult. County. John Nelsen touts his school board position but as soon as things went sideways with the budget, he immediately said that it wasn't the school board's fault--their job is to hire the superintendent who then handles the budget. Hmmmmm...and how does this let the school board who is supposed to be overseeing the district and its resources off the hook, John?

John Nelsen's campaign lit is lousy, too. Misleading, but that's to be expected. It's campaign lit. But let's look at John's latest piece, that just hit my mailbox today.

Endorsements by Labor? Two---IBEW Local 49 whose board is mostly Republican and Oregon State Bulding and Construction Trades---but wait, they also endorsed Nick, so that doesn't really count as a "win". Nick, on the other hand, has been endorsed by OEA, SEIU, Oregon Nurses Association, Oregon Council of Police Association, Oregon State Fire Fighters Council, and many others.

Nelsen's piece highlights that he has "Key Democratic Support"...hmmmm, who are these "Key Democrats" supporting John Nelsen? There are four: 3 who are on the Reynolds School Board with John---Theresa Delaney-Davis, Claudette Naylor, and Shelley Chase. But wait! Shelley Chase is actually registered NAV, not Democrat. BUZZZZ! The other "Key Democrat" listed is Balwant Bhullar. Who is that? Well, he's a small business owner and he's running for Fairview City Council. Not sure how that makes him "Key" but it doesn't really matter since Bhullar is a registered REPUBLICAN, so he doesn't qualify as a "Key DEMOCRAT" in any case. (Second hint to Nelson campaign--fact check BEFORE printing.)

John Nelsen is in no way what we need in East County. His campaign lit has outright falsehoods on it. He's so desperate that he keeps touting how the Dems just love him. Bullshit. John Nelsen is running scared, he's running stupid ads against Nick which make no mention of the issues, and he's going to lose.

Nick Kahl will be the next Oregon State Representative for HD49. And he's going to be great!

John Nelson is a Republican? You wouldn't know if from his literature. Not a mention of his party affiliation on an mailer I've received. All he ever mentions is his Democratic support. WTF? He's also VERY anti-union, especially the teachers and classified employee unions.

I am one of two members of the Democratic Party working for John Nelsen in House District 49. He is a Republican. So what? He has decided opinions and he has no problem knowing that I have decided opinions and am decidedly voting Obama (especially because of Biden) at the top of the ticket and will be giving some down ticket support to some Dem's. Nick seems like he's probably a nice kid, but not ready for this. Not leadership.

When WWeek conducted their endorsement interview with both Nick and John they asked Nick what type of law he's interested in practicing (essentially the "why are you going to law school" question) and Nick responded that he was in law school to "do this." To run for office? I like law. No, understatement. I love the law. Love con law, hate Scalia and Thomas, love William J. Brennan. I can reel off a laundry list of areas of law that I find interest in and why and I've never been to law school. I would like Nick to try to answer WWeek's question on this topic. I would like to hear if he wants to work in the Family Law arena (I can explain, in a cursory fashion if you'd like, what that would entail for you, Nick) or perhaps public interest law (that's Admin, if you needed help).

John was treated with respect by the interviewers once they realized they had someone sitting shoulder to shoulder with his opponent answering questions with a great depth of knowledge on issues affecting East County... John is the one who had a good time, not Nick. Nick looked upset when he came out.

Look, Kahl is ambitious, but letting his conultant and the House Majority coordinate a series of mass mailing that are angering residents in East County and absolutely blatantly lying about John's position is going too far. John's answer at the Chamber's forum was concise and Nick let his consultants rip the quote out of context. Are Nick's consultants begging for a repeat of the past two election cycles in District 49? I think so.

(Kahl's ticked off the Gresham Cahmber, by the by, for politicizing their forum and for twisting John's honest answer to the question of what he thought the fairest tax to all people might be: A sales tax but only if it is coupled with/mentioned in the same sentence of a potential bill or initiative with the complete elimination of the state income tax). Have that debate. John's fine with it. Are you Nick?

I don't expect Nick is comfortable going up against a man who has raised a family, worries about paying the mortgage each month, is vocally independant from his party and has real local Democratic support (didn't the mayor of Troutdale flip from Nick to John after the primary? Hmmm... What does that speak to?).

From what I've read and what I've seen of Nick, I have one big question: How can we expect Nick to stand up for a County he hasn't spent much time until recently (since he was in High School and Community College) when he can't even hold back his consultants from starting another ad war in East County?

John is no Karen Minnis and Kahl is no Brading.

John Nelsen gives me some faith in the political process again. John is a real resident like Greg Mathews (who is great and who mentioned this past Saturday "...the bus project kids from outside of East County..." When a proud union dem mentions something like that... I listen). If these two (Nelsen and Mathews) get elected it will be great for East County.

Feel free to contact the campaign if you are an East County resident and would like to have a serious discussion on the issues while being respected by someone you may disagree with on some issues.

Nelsen's not afraid of a debate or respecting people that disagree with him. What about Nick? Nick reminds me of George W. Bush: Afraid of really debating ideas.

(By the way: With regard to Reynolds, the reason that the budgetary short fall was even recognized in this timely a fashion is because the Board, led by John, brought in something the District had never had before... wait for it... a CPA. This happened under John's leadership. He and the Board are responsible for the transparency the district is now recieving. John knows what accountability means and what transparency in government means.)

I've heard from alot of residents who were not supporting anyone in the House race until they tried to call Nick regarding his positions over the past few weeks. They recieved no calls back from his campaign over the course of a few weeks time. We call back. A number of D's support us. We get the respect of people that ask questions. Examples of real Dem's who are not voting McCain, not voting for Nick Kahl.

<h2>That's all. Have a good night.</h2>